SSIONARY    MEMORIALS 


:JLLIAM  RANKIN 


y  ___  -vf* 


PRINCETON,    N.  J. 


Purchased  by  the  Hammill   Missionary  Fund. 


BV  3700 

.R35 

1895           1 

Rankin, 

William. 

Memoria 

Is  of 

foreign 

missionaries  of  the 

^vicmcrer ■... 

Memorials  of 
Foreign  Missionaries 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH   U.  S.  A. 


BY 


WILLIAM  Rankin 


LATE  TREASURER   OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS 


Pkhsbyterian   Board   of   Publication  and 
Sabbath-school  Wokk,  Philadelphia,  1895 


Copyright,  1895,  by 
THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE   PRESBYTERIAN   BOARD 
OF  PUBLICATION  AND   SABBATH- 
SCHOOL  WORK. 


PREFACE. 


Twenty-six  years  have  passed  since  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  pub- 
lished a  i2mo  volume  prepared  by  Secretary  Dr. 
John  C.  Lowrie,  entitled,  ''Manual  of  the  Foreign 
Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  U.  S.  A."  The 
latter  portion  of  the  book  contains  memoirs  of  the 
loo  missionaries  of  the  Board  and  of  the  Western 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  who  had  died  prior  to 
1868,  the  year  of  its  publication.  In  the  following 
pages  these  memoirs  are  reproduced,  and  with  them 
gathered  in  the  same  way  and  alphabetically  arranged 
are  blended  the  memoirs  of  those  who  have  since  de- 
parted this  life,  viz.,  from  1868  to  the  close  of  1894, 
making  in  all  about  250  names.  Appended  to  these 
are  brief  sketches  of  the  five  deceased  Corresponding 
Secretaries,  also  a  narrative  of  events  at  Futtehgurh 
in  the  Sepoy  revolt  of  1857  relating  to  the  eight  mar- 
tyred missionaries.  The  compiler  may  be  regarded 
merely  as  such,  in  bringing  together  these  necrologi- 
cal  notices  or  memoirs,  as  they  are  scattered  through 
and  buried  in  the  periodicals  of  the  Board,  In  the 
transition  he  has  made  but  few  changes  or  addenda, 
and  is  not  responsible  for  brevity  in  instances  where 
a  fuller  statement  was  justly  due  and  would  have 
been    more  appropriate.      Doubtless   several    much 


PREFACE. 

esteemed  native  evangelists  have  been  overlooked, 
and  possibly  some  foreign  laborers,  although,  save  in 
three  or  four  exceptional  instances,  it  was  not  in- 
tended to  include  those  who  once  connected  with  the 
Board  died  after  being  compelled  from  providential 
causes  to  withdraw  from  its  service  and  engage  in 
other  relations. 

The  motives  which  have  influenced  these  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  Church  to  devote  their  lives  to  this 
work  of  self-denial  for  the  Master  are  so  well  stated 
by  Dr.  Lowrie  in  his  introductory  chapter  to  the 
'' Manual"  that  I  have  reproduced  it  as  an  appro- 
priate Introduction  to  these  memoirs. 

This  work  has  been  a  congenial  one,  accompanied 
here  and  there  with  affectionate  remembrances. 
With  most  of  this  roll  of  worthies  the  compiler  was 
officially  connected  and  to  many  personally  attached. 
In  his  judgment  no  more  devoted  and  heroic  fol- 
lowers of  Christ  have  appeared  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church  during  the  last  sixty  years  of  its  history  than 
can  be  found  among  the  names  herein  recorded,  and 
no  greater  service  is  rendered  to  the  human  race  than 
what  is  accomplished  through  the  instrumentality  of 
Foreign  Missionaries. 

William  Rankin. 

Newark,  N.  J.,  December  31,  1894, 


INTRODUCTION. 


By  Rev.   John  C.   Lowrie,   D.D. 


The  work  of  Christian  Missions  has  become  one  of 
the  marked  features  of  the  age.  The  larger  bodies 
of  Christians,  and  many  of  the  smaller,  have  their 
missionary  stations  in  various  parts  of  the  world. 
Large  sums  of  money  are  expended  for  the  support 
of  missionaries,  the  establishment  of  schools,  and  the 
printing  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Hundreds  of  men 
of  superior  education,  and  women  of  cultivated  minds 
and  refined  manners,  have  gone  to  live  among  the 
Indians  of  our  western  forests,  the  Negroes  and  the 
Hottentots  of  Africa,  the  Hindus  and  the  Chinese, 
the  Feejeeans  and  others  in  the  islands  of  the  sea  ; 
they  and  their  families  are  found  living  far  from  their 
early  homes,  in  unfriendly  climes,  amongst  rude  and 
debased  tribes,  and  patiently  laboring  year  after  year 
to  instruct  the  ignorant,  and  to  bring  the  depraved 
and  degraded  people  around  them  under  the  influence 
of  the  Christian  religion.  This  stands  out  to  public 
view. 

Some  observers  see  all  this  without  sympathy,  and 
some  venture  even  to  condemn  the  conduct  of  these 
missionaries  and  their  supporters  at  home.  ''  To 
what  purpose  is  this  waste  ?    Why  should  the  labors 


2  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD. 

of  SO  many  superior  men  and  women  be  lost  to  their 
friends  and  their  own  people  ?" 

In  reply,  some  of  the  grounds  on  which  the  Church 
is  led  to  support  the  cause  of  missions  may  be  very 
briefly  stated,  and  they  will  appear  if  we  consider — 

I.  TJic  Origin  of  the  Missionary  Cause. — This  we 
ascribe  to  nothing  lower  nor  later  than  the  eternal 
love  and  purpose  of  God.  The  world  perishing  in  its 
sin  against  himself  was  before  the  mind  of  God  from 
eternity.  Every  human  being,  sinful,  lost  and  hope- 
less, like  the  apostate  angels,  was  known  unto  God 
from  the  beginning.  All  the  dreadful  darkness, 
wickedness  and  wretchedness  that  should  abound 
amongst  fallen  men,  which  if  unrestrained  would 
make  the  earth  to  be  but  the  vestibule  of  hell  itself 
— all  these  God  foresaw  before  the  world  was  made. 
The  wickedness  of  men  makes  it  necessary  that 
judgments  should  fall  upon  the  earth,  yet  still  the 
purpose  of  God  towards  our  fallen  world  was  from 
eternity  full  of  grace.  And  from  the  divine  counsels 
proceeds  the  only  salvation  of  lost  sinners.  To  ac- 
complish this,  God  ' '  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  de- 
livered him  up  for  us  all."  ''  For  God  so  loved  the 
world  that  he  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  who- 
soever belie veth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting  life."  *'  Ye  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your 
sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  poverty 
might  be  rich."  The  invitation  is  now  sent  forth 
among  the  Heathen,  Mohammedans,  Jews,  and  all 
others,    ''Look  unto  me  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

ends  of  the  earth. "  He  that  believeth  shall  be  saved  ; 
he  that  believeth  not  is  condemned  already.  The 
Church  has  been  established  among  men,  and  her 
ministers  and  members  have  received  the  means  of 
grace  for  their  own  salvation,  and  as  trustees  for 
those  who  are  destitute.  Freely  they  have  received  ; 
freely  they  must  give.  Their  agency  in  this  work  is 
contemplated  in  the  divine  purpose.  Angels  might 
have  been  employed  as  missionaries,  but  this  was  not 
the  will  of  God.  His  purpose  to  save  his  people  was 
to  be  fulfilled  by  the  agency  of  redeemed  sinners. 

This  was  the  origin  of  the  missionary  work.  It  is 
not  of  human  devising.  It  is  not  of  this  world.  It 
is  not  of  time.  It  is  of  God,  from  everlasting.  Its 
progress  among  men  is  by  the  grace  and  power  of 
God.  And  hence  its  final  issue  is  a  matter  of  cer- 
tainty, and  its  triumph  shall  be  to  the  glory  of  God, 
in  this  world  and  in  everlasting  ages. 

II.  The  Coinniand]ncnt  of  Our  Lord. — "  Jesus  came 
and  spake  unto  them,  saying,  All  power  is  given 
unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth.  Go  ye,  therefore, 
and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of 
the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  : 
teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I 
have  commanded  you.  And  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

The  permanent  obligation  of  this  commandment  is 
clearly  shown  by  its  own  nature.  While  any  nation 
or  even  any  human  being  is  unacquainted  with  the 
Gospel,  this  law  remains  in  full  force.  The  promise 
accompanying  it  also  shows  its  permanent  authority. 


4  NECKOLOGICAL   RECORD. 

The  promise  of  the  Saviour's  presence  is  inseparable 
from  the  commandment.  How,  then,  can  the  Cliurch, 
or  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  expect  the  fulfillment 
of  this  most  precious  promise  of  our  Lord,  while 
neglecting  the  duty  with  which  it  is  connected  ? 

III.  TJie  Example  of  the  Primitive  Church. — 
Hardly  anything  was  more  characteristic  of  the  early 
Christians  than  the  missionary  spirit.  They  evi- 
dently understood  our  Lord's  commandment  as  re- 
quiring them  to  spread  the  Gospel  everywhere  in  the 
world,  and  to  do  this  in  foreign  countries  without 
waiting  until  the  work  of  evangelization  was  com- 
pleted in  their  own.  They  were  to  begin  at  Jeru- 
salem, and  thence  to  go  forth  amongst  all  nations, 
preaching  repentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ.  See  the  example,  particularly, 
of  one  of  the  earliest  churches,  if  not  the  first,  or- 
ganized among  the  Gentiles.  The  disciples  were 
first  called  Christians  in  Antioch,  and  the  church  in 
that  city  sent  forth  two  of  the  most  eminent  ministers, 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  on  an  extended  foreign  mis- 
sionary expedition.  This  was  done  while  the  church 
itself  was  few  in  numbers,  feeble  in  resources,  in  the 
midst  of  a  heathen  city,  no  doubt  actively  engaged  in 
home  missionary  labors  ;  but  yet  it  was  willing  to 
make  sacrifices  for  those  who  were  perishing  in  the 
regions  beyond  the  limits  of  Antioch  or  of  Syria. 
This  was  the  spirit  which  animated  the  Church  in  the 
purest  age  of  its  history,  and  this  was  the  secret  of 
its  power  at  home  and  abroad.  It  watered  the  fields 
of   others,   and  God   watered  its  own  gardens.     It 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

scattered,  and  yet  increased.  The  faith,  and  love, 
and  devotedness  of  its  own  members  were  strength- 
ened by  their  missionary  labors.  The  examples  of 
apostolic  missionaries  reacted  upon  the  churches, 
making  their  members  apostolic.  The  death  of  de- 
voted laborers  in  the  .spread  of  the  Gospel  called 
other  laborers  into  the  harvest.  And  the  work  ad- 
vanced with  power. 

IV.  TJie  Benevolent  Nature  of  the  Christian  Re- 
ligion.— It  prompts  lis  to  love  our  neighbor  as  our- 
selves; to  do  to  others  as  we  would  have  others  to 
do  unto  us;  to  do  good  unto  all  men  as  we  have  op- 
portunity. The  influence  of  divine  grace  on  the 
heart  is  the  very  opposite  of  everything  selfish ;  it  is 
diffusive  and  evangelistic.  It  leads  us  to  pity  them 
that  sit  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death.  It 
constrains  us  to  carry  or  send  the  Gospel,  with  all  its 
blessings,  to  every  creature.  . 

V.  The  Spiritual  Condition  of  Men  Without  the 
Gospel. — This  is  truly  deplorable.  Ignorance,  super- 
stition and  depravity — almost  all  kinds  of  evil — ■ 
abound  in  countries  where  the  light  of  the  Sun  of 
righteousness  does  not  shine.  Under  afflictions  their 
inhabitants  are  destitute  of  support,  and  in  death  are 
without  hope.  This  is  stated  with  solemnity.  Some 
think  the  heathen  will  be  saved  without  the  Gospel. 
They  certainly  will  not  be  condemned  for  rejecting  a 
Saviour  of  whom  they  have  never  heard  ;  they  will 
be  judged  according  to  the  light  which  they  enjoyed. 
Rom.   i.   20;  ii.    12-15.     I^^t  ^'without  holiness   no 


6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD. 

man  shall  see  the  Lord."  With  hearts  depraved,  and 
living  in  sin  to  the  very  end  of  life,  on  what  ground 
can  they  expect  salvation  ?  God  inay^  indeed,  extend 
salvation  to  sinners  without  the  means  of  grace ;  he 
does  this,  in  the  case  of  those  who  are  saved  in  in- 
fancy, and  of  such  as  received  immediate  revelations 
from  heaven  before  the  written  word  was  given. 
But  the  sacred  Scripture  shows  that  salvation  is  now 
extended  to  adult  men  only  through  Jesus  Christ, 
and  through  the  means  of  grace.  Thus  it  is  written, 
*'  Whosoever  shall  call  on  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall 
be  saved.  How  then  shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom 
they  have  not  believed  ?  And  how  shall  they  believe 
in  him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard  ?  And  how  shall 
they  hear  without  a  preacher  ?  .  .  .  .  So  then  faith 
cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God." 

VI.  TJie  Events  of  Providence  in  Our  Day. — 
These  point  in  the  line  of  Christian  Missions.  The 
changes  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  within  the 
last  sixty  years  have  removed  many  barriers  to  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel,  and  opened  doors  which  had 
been  closed  for  centuries.  The  wonderful  progress 
of  commerce  is  tributary  to  the  progress  of  missions. 
The  steam  printing-press,  the  steam  railway-coach, 
the  ocean  steamship  and  the  electric  telegraph,  are 
all  servants  of  the  God  of  missions,  and  tend  greatly 
to  promote  the  interests  of  the  missionary  work. 
Christian  and  pagan  nations  are  now  brought  into 
close  relationship.  The  British  and  the  Hindus  live 
under  the  same  laws.  Our  countrymen  and  the 
Chinese  are  meeting  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  ;  the 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

Chinese  themselves,  with  the  other  Orientals,  have 
been  moved  by  political  changes,  looking  towards 
Christianity.  Africa  can  be  reached  with  ease  from 
Liverpool  or  New  York.  Multitudes  of  Roman 
Catholics  are  seeking  their  homes  in  countries  where 
the  Bible  is  an  open  book. 

VII.  The  Seal  of  the  Holy  Spirit.—''  If  this  work 
be  of  men,  it  will  come  to  naught  ;  but  if  it  be  of 
God,"  it  cannot  be  overthrown.  No  more  decisive 
proofs  of  the  favor  of  Heaven  have  been  given  to  any 
cause  than  to  that  of  Foreign  Missions,  by  the  gra- 
cious work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Souls  have  been  con- 
verted in  every  mission.  The  power  of  Buddhism, 
Brahmanism  and  Fetichism  has  been  broken  in  many 
instances.  The  False  Prophet  and  the  Papal  Anti- 
Christ  have  both  been  compelled  to  yield  their  sub- 
jects to  the  missionary,  to  be  led  to  Jesus  Christ  for 
salvation.  Converts  in  large  numbers  among  the 
Indian  tribes,  in  Africa,  Asia,  and  the  islands  of  the 
sea,  have  adorned  their  Christian  profession  by  an 
exemplary  life,  and  many  have  died  in  the  faith  and 
hope  of  the  Gospel. 

VIII.  The.  Certainty  of  Final  Success. — For  this, 
the  Church  relies  on  the  Word  of  God.  "  The  earth 
shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea."  ''All  nations  whom  thou 
hast  made  shall  come  and  worship  before  thee,  O 
Lord;  and  shall  glorify  thy  name."  "Until  the 
fullness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in ;  and  so  all  Israel 
shall  be  saved."     These  are  examples  of  prophetic 


NECROLOGICAL   RECORD. 


language  concerning  the  prevalence  of  the  kingdom 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ.  With  these 
predictions  in  view,  no  Christian  can  doubt  the  final 
issue  of  the  contest  now  waging  in  the  world  be- 
tween the  powers  of  darkness  and  of  light.  Nor  can 
any  reasonable  doubt  be  entertained  concerning  the 
success  of  the  measures  now  commonly  employed  by 
the  Church  in  the  missionary  work,  as  tending  to  the 
general  diffusion  of  Christianity.  These  measures 
are  the  same,  substantially,  in  unenlightened  as  in 
Christian  lands.  The  simple  story  of  the  cross,  the 
preaching  of  Christ  and  him  crucified,  is  the  main 
characteristic  of  the  work  of  missions  in  modern  as 
in  ancient  times.  All  Protestant  missionaries  ' '  preach 
Christ  crucified,  unto  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  and 
unto  the  Greeks  foolishness  ;  but  unto  them  which 
are  called,  both  Jews  and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power 
of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God."  The  success  of 
this  apostolic  preaching  will  become  more  marked  in 
coming  ages,  until  all  nations  are  converted  unto 
God.  We  know  no  other  means  of  success  ;  we  look 
for  no  other  dispensation  of  grace;  the  outpouring 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  shall 
be  witnessed  in  every  place  where  the  Gospel  is 
preached;  and  the  long  ages  of  the  one  thousand 
years,  each  measured  in  prophetic  time,  shall  bring 
forth  their  myriads  of  truly  Christian  people.  Then 
shall  our  Redeemer  '*see  of  the  travail  of  his  soul, 
and  shall  be  satisfied." 

On  grounds  like  these  does  the  Church  of  Christ 
proceed  in  her  missionary  work.  Her  faith  is  in 
God,  and  in  the  power  of  his  grace.     Inspired  by 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

this  view,  and  sustained  by  the  presence  of  the 
Saviour,  her  sons  and  daughters  go  forth  as  mis- 
sionaries. They  labor  in  various  fields,  with  various 
success,  enduring  manifold  privations,  for  longer 
days  or  few,  as  God  may  appoint  ;  and  then  they  go 
to  their  rest.  But  their  works  do  follow  them. 
Their  memory  is  dear  to  the  Church.  Nations  now 
heathen  shall  in  future  ages  bless  their  names.  The 
Saviour  will  give  to  them  a  crown  of  life.  And  in 
the  heavenly  glory,  they  will  evermore  rejoice  that 
they  were  counted  worthy  to  be  missionaries  of  the 
cross. 


NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

OF  THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS  OF  THE 
PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH. 


Rev.   Robert  E.   Abbey. 

Rev.  Robert  E.  Abbey,  after  a  protracted  illness, 
fell  a  victim  to  dysentery  at  Nanking,  China,  October 
9,  1890.  He  made  a  profession  of  his  faith  in  Christ 
in  Toledo,  Ohio,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  H.  M. 
MacCracken,  D.D.,  now  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  New  York.  He  was  subsequently  gradu- 
ated with  honor  from  Wooster  University  of  Ohio, 
and  in  1882  from  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
New  York.  In  the  autumn  of  that  same  year  he 
joined  the  Central  China  Mission  under  appointment 
of  the  Board  and  was  assigned  to  Nanking  Station, 
where  he  continued  to  labor  till  his  death.  A  few 
months  after  his  arrival  he  was  married  to  the  widow 
of  Rev.  Albert  Whiting,  dec'd,  late  one  of  the  mis- 
sionaries at  that  station. 

Mr.  Abbey  was  thoroughly  devoted  to  his  work. 
The  burden  of  souls  was  upon  his  heart,  and  he 
longed  to  see  native  laborers  having  command  of 
the  Nanking  dialect  multiplied,  so  that  the  millions 
around  that  former  capital  might  be  reached  with 
the  Gospel.  With  this  in  view,  he  secured  the  con- 
sent of   the  mission    and    the  Board    to    establish   a 


12  NECROLOGICAL   RFXORD 

boarding  school  for  boys,  furnishing  part  of  the 
necessary  funds  from  his  own  slender  resources,  his 
purpose  being  to  select  the  most  promising  and  train 
them  for  ministers,  teachers  and  helpers.  He  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  a  fair  beginning  made  in 
the  enterprise  and  of  welcoming  several  of  the  boys 
to  the  fellowship  of  the  Church  before  the  summons 
ca,me.  Mr.  Abbey  had  received  permission  of  the 
Board  to  visit  his  native  land  with  his  family  next 
year,  hoping  to  return  again  to  the  prosecution  of 
his  work  on  a  larger  scale  ;  ' '  but  he  rests  from  his 
labors  and  his  works  do  follow  him." — CJiurcJi  at 
Home  and  Abroad^  December,  1890. 

Mrs.  Abbey,  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  made 
a  visit  to  the  United  States,  where  she  left  two  of 
her  children.  She  returned  to  her  station  in  Sep- 
tember, 1892,  and  writes  ''joyfully  of  the  goodness 
of  God  in  bringing  her  back  for  his  good  and  large 
service  in  China." 

Ah-yuing. 

Again  the  hand  of  the  Lord  has  been  laid  upon 
us,  and  removed  from  our  midst  one  of  the  choice 
plants  in  his  vineyard  here,  from  whom  we  expected 
much,  and  whose  loss  we  feel  to  be  a  sad  and  myste- 
rious dispensation.  Ah-yuing,  wife  of  Tsiang  Vong- 
kweng  (formerly  catechist  at  San-poh,  now  stationed 
at  Ningpo),  was  originally  a  pupil  in  Miss  Aldersey's 
Boarding-school,  and  came  into  our  school  when 
Miss  Aldersey  transferred  her  school  to  our  mission. 
She,  her  mother,  and  her  grandmother,  were  all 
baptized   by   Mr.   Nevius   in    February,    1859.     The 


OF   THE    150ARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I3 

mother  is  still  with  us,  but  the  grandmother  went  to 
her  rest  three  or  four  years  since.  Previous  to  her 
marriage,  Ah-yuing  acted  for  some  time  as  assistant 
teacher  in  our  Female  Boarding-school,  and  after  her 
marriage  exerted  a  very  happy  influence  upon  the 
families  around  her,  in  the  part  of  San-poh  where 
her  husband  was  stationed. 

She  was  the  most  accomplished  woman  ever  edu- 
cated in  our  school,  and  had  read  quite  an  unusual 
amount  of  the  ordinary  Chinese  literature.  When 
her  husband  was  taken  under  the  care  of  Presbytery 
and  commenced  his  studies  as  a  student  of  theology, 
she  studied  with  him,  and  was  as  thoroughly  pre- 
pared, and  could  have  stood  the  examinations  as  well 
as  he.  The  pastor  and  elders  at  San-poh  highly 
respected  her  for  her  accomplishments  and  learning. 
After  the  meeting  of  Presbytery  in  October,  they 
called  to  make  her  a  parting  visit,  and  when  they  rose 
to  take  leave,  she  burst  into  tears,  and  told  them  she 
should  never  see  their  faces  again.  They  all  showed 
a  good  deal  of  feeling,  and  kneeling  down,  com- 
mended her  to  God  and  to  the  power  of  his  grace. 

About  a  month  before  her  death,  I  told  her  can- 
didly that  there  were  no  hopes  of  her  recovery,  and 
asked  her  how  she  felt  in  the  prospect  of  death. 
She  said  that  when  she  thought  of  her  sins,  she  felt 
afraid.  I  told  her  that  Jesus  came  not  to  save  the 
righteous,  but  sinners.  She  said  that  was  a  thought 
that  gave  her  comfort.  She  told  her  husband  that 
she  felt  troubled  that  she  had  done  so  little  for  Christ 
when  she  had  health  and  youth,  and  said  :  "What  if 
I  should  turn  out  an  Ignorance  at  last "   (referring  to 


14  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

that  character  in  Bunyan's  ''Pilgrim's  Progress"). 
Her  husband  exhorted  her  to  examine  herself  as  to 
whether  she  had  sincerely  given  herself  to  Jesus  or 
not.  After  awhile,  and  after  he  had  prayed  with 
her,  she  told  him  she  could  not  think  she  had  been  a 
hypocrite  ;  and  soon  commenced  to  comfort  herself 
by  calling  to  mind  the  promises  of  God,  and  partic- 
ularly delighted  in  repeating  the  90th  Psalm.  She 
said  one  day  :  ''AH  the  books  in  the  world  are  not 
worth  one  sentence  of  the  Bible."  One  day  during 
a  fainting  lit,  her  mother  and  her  husband  com- 
menced to  weep  aloud,  thinking  she  was  expiring. 
As  soon  as  she  could  speak,  she  gently  rebuked 
them,  saying  :  "I  am  passing  through  the  river  of 
death  ;  you  ought  to  be  comforting  and  uphold- 
ing me,  but  I  am  obliged  to  comfort  you."  She 
felt  wearied  with  the  conversation  of  those  who 
talked  of  worldly  things,  but  expressed  herself 
refreshed  and  grateful  when  any  one  talked  to  her 
of  spiritual  things.  To  all  her  unconverted  friends, 
when  they  visited  her,  she  gave  warnings  and  exhor- 
tations to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  ;  and  to  her 
Christian  friends,  she  expressed  the  hope  that  we 
should  meet  her  in  heaven.  She  told  her  husband 
that  she  was  surprised  at  herself  that  the  fear  of 
death  was  all  gone,  and  that  she  felt  that  Jesus  was 
with  her  as  her  helper  and  upholder,  and  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  in  her  heart.  On  Monday,  Decem- 
ber 24,  1866,  I  saw  her  for  the  last  time,  but  she  was 
so  feeble  that  I  only  spoke  a  few  words  of  comfort 
to  her,  and  left  the  room.  Her  husband  came  after 
me   to   say,  that   his   wife  wished   him  to   ask  if   I 


OF   THK    130ARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I5 

thought  she  would  die  that  night.  I  told  him  that  I 
thought  she  would  not  die  that  night,  but  probably 
before  that  time  the  next  day.  She  replied:  *'Oh, 
that  is  good  news!"  She  then  told  her  husband  to 
give  her  dying  thanks  to  those  friends  who  had  vis- 
ited her  and  sent  her  little  tokens  of  love  during  her 
illness,  mentioning  them  by  name,  and  told  him  that 
to  go  and  be  with  Jesus  was  better  than  even  to  stay 
with  him.  Very  soon  after  this  she  became  uncon- 
scious, and  about  noon  on  Christmas  day,  she  fell 
asleep,  aged  twenty-three  years. 

I  have  written  thus  minutely  for  the  confirmation 
of  your  faith,  as  it  has  been  of  mine,  in  seeing  an 
intelligent,  clear-minded  Christian  woman  give  such 
comforting  evidence  of  the  power  of  Jesus  to  "  make 
a  dying-bed  feel  soft  as  downy  pillows  are,"  and  to 
show  that  among  those  who  are  indeed  born  of  God, 
there  is  no  difference,  we  are  no  more  Barbarian  and 
Scythian,  bond  and  free — but  all  fellow-saints,  fel- 
low-citizens of  the  better  country,  having  one  Lord, 
one  faith,  one  hope,  one  home  in  glory. — D.  B.  Mc- 
Cartce,  M.D. 


Mrs.  Mary  J.  Ainslie. 

Mrs.  Ainslie,  wife  of  the  Rev.  George  Ainslie,  of 
the  Choctaw  mission,  died  February  14,  1861 — ''in 
the  full  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality;  her  last 
words  were,  Jesus  is  precious  !  He  alone  is  pre- 
cious!"— Annual  Report^  1861. 


l6  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

Rev.  Jonathan  P.  Alward. 

Mr.  Alward  was  born  in  Baskingridge,  N.  J., 
graduated  at  Nassau  Hall,  and  studied  theology  also 
in  Princeton.  He  went  as  a  missionary  to  Western 
Africa  in  1839,  on  an  exploring  visit  with  Messrs. 
Pinney  and  Canfield.  Selecting  the  Kroo  country  as 
their  field  of  labor,  they  returned  home,  and  the 
next  year  Messrs.  Canfield  and  Alward  went  back  to 
Africa  with  their  wives ;  but  they  were  not  allowed 
to  continue  by  reason  of  death.  Mr.  Alward  entered 
into  rest  April  21,  1841,  at  Cape  Palmas,  on  his  way 
to  Settra  Kroo,  in  the  twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age ; 
and  Mr.  Canfield,  May  7,  1842,  at  Settra  Kroo.  Mrs. 
Alward  and  Mrs.  Canfield  returned  to  their  friends 
in  this  country.  Mr.  Alward  is  spoken  of  in  the 
Annual  Report  of  the  Board  as  a  ^'talented  and 
devoted  missionary." 

Rev.  James  R.  Amos  and  Rev.  Armistead 
Miller. 

These  colored  ministers  were  both  graduates  of 
the  Ashmun  Institute,  and  missionaries  in  Liberia. 
Mr.  Amos  died  soon  after  his  return  from  that 
country  in  1864.  Mr.  Miller  died  at  his  station  Jan- 
uary 18,  1865.  Both  were  men  of  considerable 
energy  and  much  promise,  but  were  early  taken  from 
their  work  to  their  rest. — Annual  Report^  1865. 

Mrs.  L.  E.  Ballagh. 

The  return  to  this  country  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John 
C.  Ballagh  on  account  of  ill  health  was  mentioned  in 


OF  THE   r.OARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 7 

the  last  Report  (1883).  Since  their  arrival  Mrs. 
Ballagh  was  permitted  to  visit  many  of  the  mission- 
ary bands  and  associations  of  the  Philadelphia 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  and  to  attend 
the  meetings  for  prayer  in  Philadelphia  early  in  Jan- 
nary.  She  met  everywhere  with  a  warm  reception 
and  awakened  a  great  degree  of  interest  in  the  cause 
of  missions  until  as  the  meetings  were  ending  in 
Philadelphia  she  was  suddenly  called  to  enter  the 
heavenly  rest  (January  13,  1884) — greatly  loved, 
greatly  lamented.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ballagh  went  to 
Japan  in  1875.  "Not  only  in  the  mission  field  but 
at  home  among  the  churches  Mrs.  Ballagh  made  her 
influence  felt  in  a  very  peculiar  degree.  Few  Chris- 
tians of  either  sex  have  made  a  deeper  impression 
during  the  same  length  of  time.  Her  memory  is  a 
legacy  to  the  Church."  A  beautiful  memorial  was 
published,  containing  addresses  and  other  services 
connected  with  her  funeral,  also  the  action  of  the 
Presbyterian  Ministers'  Association  and  of  the 
Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society.  —  Annual 
Report^  1884  ;  Foreign  Missionary^  May,  1884. 

Miss  Sarah  P.  Barber. 

Miss  Barber,  a  native  of  New  York,  and  a  teacher" 
in  the  Chickasaw  Mission,  died  October  10,  1859. 
"She  was  a  Christian  missionary  of  no  ordinary 
excellence.  Her  associates  in  the  missionary  work 
bear  honorable  testimony  to  the  fidelity  with  which 
she  always  discharged  her  duties  as  a  teacher,  and  a 
much   greater    number   of    witnesses,    both   in   the 


1 8  '  NECKOLOGICAL   RECORD 

Indian  country  and  in  the  circle  of  her  acquaint- 
ance in  New  York,  can  testify  to  her  eminent  piety 
and  devotion  to  the  Redeemer." — Annual  Report^ 
i860. 

Rev.  Joseph  W.  Barr. 

Mr.  Barr  departed  this  life  in  Richmond,  Va., 
October  26,  1832,  of  cholera,  while  on  his  way  to 
embark  for  Western  Africa.  He  was  the  son  of 
the  Rev.  Thomas  Barr,  of  Ohio,  graduated  at  West- 
em  Reserve  College,  studied  theology  at  Andover 
and  Princeton,  and  was  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his 
age  when  he  died.  He  is  spoken  of  as  a  man  of 
remarkable  energy  and  devoted  piety.  His  death 
was  regarded  as  a  great  loss  to  the  missionary  cause. 
His  memoir,  prepared  by  the  Rev.  E.  Swift,  D.D., 
was  published  at  Pittsburg  in  1833,  and  a  few  years 
later  it  was  published  by  the  Board  of  Publication, 
Philadelphia. 

Miss  Mary  M.   Baskin. 

Died  in  Tucson,  Arizona,  May  30,  1892,  Miss  i\Iary 
M.  Baskin,  for  fourteen  years  teacher  of  the  Occi- 
dental School,  San  Francisco.  In  July,  1878,  Miss 
Baskin  took  charge  of  this  school  under  the  Occi- 
dental Board.  She  was  an  experienced  teacher  and 
soon  grew  to  have  a  strange  fondness  for  her  little 
brown  pupils.  Her  painstaking  efforts  were  rewarded 
by  their  very  rapid  progress,  especially  in  knowledge 
of  the  Scriptures.     She  taught  under  many  discour- 


OF   THE    EOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I9 

Her  school-room  was  always  in  the  heart 
of  the  Chinese  quarters,  and  the  surrounding's  were 
not  pleasant  nor  healthful.  Changes  were  frequent 
among  the  families  of  her  patrons.  Some  returned 
to  China  and  others  went  to  work.  Her  advanced 
class  was  taken  away  to  form  the  new  public  school 
and  she  missed  them.  Still,  the  new  scholar  found 
her  just  as  careful  in  instructing  him  as  if  he  were 
to  be  with  her  for  years.  She  never  gave  up  her 
boys,  even  though  they  went  to  interior  towns  in 
China,  but  sent  and  received  letters  from  pupils  in 
Honolulu,  the  Eastern  States  and  from  China. 

Miss  Baskin  was  unusually  well  qualified  as  a 
teacher  of  Chinese.  She  was  decided  in  discipline, 
but  kind  and  helpful  to  all.  ''  Faithful  "  is  the  word, 
more  than  all  others,  expressing  her  relation  to  her 
work.  When  strength  began  to  fail  she  was  unwill- 
ing to  give  the  school  out  of  her  hands,  and  only 
when  loving  friends  urged  rest  did  she  consent  to 
take  a  vacation.  In  December  she  went  to  SoutheiTi 
California.  A  friend,  there,  writes  of  her:  ''We 
talked  of  the  home-going  many  times  and  she  would 
say,  '  I  feel  as  though  I  could  stretch  out  my  hand 
and  brush  away  the  veil  which  hides  it. '  One  morn- 
ing, after  a  sleepless  night,  she  said:  'I  could  not 
sleep,  for  I  have  been  struggling  to  reconcile  m3"self 
to  living  without  my  work.  It  would  be  so  much 
easier  to  die.'  " 

She  did  not  gain  strength,  and  friends  advised  a 
change  to  Arizona.  But  again  hopes  were  disap- 
pointed. After  weeks  of  intense  suffering  she  closed 
her  poor  sleepless  eyes  upon  earthly  scenes  to  open 


20  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

them  upon  the  glories  of  heaven,  ' '  For  so  he  giveth 
his  beloved  sleep. " 

On  Saturday,  June  5,  all  that  was  mortal  of  our 
dear  friend  was  laid  away  in  hope  of  a  glorious 
appearing,  when  he  shall  come  whom  she  so 
delighted  to  serve. 

Her  work  is  done,  her  Saviour's  will  obeyed,  and 
she  is  with  the  King  in  his  beauty.  Our  great  loss 
is  her  infinite  gain.      "  He  doeth  all  things  well." 

Oakland,  June  12,  1892.  M.  D.  Condit. 

—  Womaji's  Work  for  Woman,  August  18,  1892. 

Mrs.  Jennie  A.  Beall. 

Mrs.  Beall,  wife  of  Rev.  M.  E.  Beall,  died  at 
Saltillo,  Mexico,  April  22,  1885,  after  a  brief  illness, 
leaving  a  young  infant.  She  had  been  in  the  mission 
only  about  a  year,  was  still  in  the  morning  of  life  and 
had  every  hope  of  a  long  period  of  consecrated  ser- 
vice for  the  Master.  Conscious  of  her  danger  in  her 
last  hours,  she  still  exhibited  in  great  degree  the 
serenity  and  peace  of  the  Christian  hope,  and  died 
with  kind  messages  and  exhortations  upon  her  lips. 
She  adds  another  to  the  cordon  of  missionary  graves 
which  now  belt  the  globe,  and  which  remain  as 
pledges  for  the  continued  conquest  of  the  Church  in 
all  unevangelized  lands. — Foreign  Missionary,  June, 
1885. 

Miss  Catharine  L.  Beatty. 

Miss  Beatty  arrived  in  India  in  1862,  and  was 
there  connected  with  the  Christian  girls'   school   at 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  21 

Dehra.  Her  devoted  and  successful  efforts  in  this 
school  for  several  years  called  forth  the  admiration  of 
her  missionary  associates,  but  were  interrupted  by  the 
illness  which  led  to  her  returning  to  this  country  in 
October,  1869,  and  resulted  in  her  death  at  Allen- 
town,  N.  J.,  December  24,  1870,  after  severe  suffer- 
ing- patiently  borne.  In  her  last  days  she  was  sus- 
tained by  the  blessed  hope  of  entering  into  the  rest 
that  remaineth  to  the  people  of  God. — Record^  Feb- 
ruary, 187 1. 


Rev.  a.  L.  Blackford,  D.D. 

In  July,  i860,  Dr.  Blackford  and  wife  joined  the 
Brazil  Mission,  where  they  labored  fifteen  years,  and 
then  on  account  of  the  failing  health  of  Mrs.  Black- 
ford they  resigned  their  connection  with  it.  In  188 1, 
Dr.  Blackford,  after  acting  for  some  time  as  agent  of 
the  American  Bible  Society  in  Brazil,  was  reap- 
pointed by  the  Board.  In  1890,  ill  health  required 
his  return  to  the  United  States.  He  died  at  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  May  14,  1890,  while  preparing  to  go  to  the 
General  Assembly  at  Saratoga.  He  was  at  the  time 
Moderator  of  the  Synod  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Brazil,  and  appropriate  action  expressive  of  the 
deep  sorrow  of  the  General  Assembly  on  hearing  of 
his  death,  was  taken  by  that  body.  ''  Dr.  Blackford 
was  the  oldest  Protestant  missionary  in  Brazil ;  his 
labors  extended  over  a  period  of  thirty  years,  and  his 
whole  life  was  given  to  the  advancement  of  the 
interests  of  missions  in  Brazil. " — Historical  Sketches. 


22  necrological  record 

Rev.  Edward  Boeklen. 

Rev.  Edward  Boeklen  went  to  Liberia  in  1866,  and 
died  of  the  African  fever  September  28,  1868.  He 
was  a  German  by  birth,  and  the  missionaries  all  con- 
cur in  the  opinion  that  he  neglected  the  proper  care 
of  his  health  and  thereby  contracted  the  sickness 
which  terminated  his  life.  He  was  a  man  of  choice 
gifts  and  earnest  child-like  piety.  His  removal  is  a 
serious  loss  to  the  high  school  of  which  he  was 
Superintendent,  as  well  as  to  the  people  of  Liberia, 
but  it  was  doubtless  great  gain  for  him  to  die.  His 
great  desire  to  be  with  Christ  raised  him  above  the 
fear  of  death. — Annual  Report^  1869. 

Rev.  Burgess  B.  Brier. 

The  death  of  Rev.  B.  B.  Brier,  of  our  Gaboon  and 
Corisco  mission,  which  occurred  at  Batanga,  West 
Africa,  on  May  14,  1890,  was  sudden  and  unexpected. 
Some  time  before  he  had  been  ill  with  la  grippe,  and 
had  scarcely  recovered  his  strength.  Moreover, 
there  was  much  sickness  among  the  natives,  the  pre- 
vailing influenza  and  other  diseases  prostrating  many. 
Though  not  a  trained  physician,  Mr.  Brier  had  some 
knowledge  of  medicine,  and  with  characteristic 
energy  did  all  in  his  power  to  relieve  the  suffering, 
thereby  severely  taxing  his  already  depleted  strength. 
On  the  morning  of  May  6,  he  took  a  ride  with  his 
wife  along  the  beach,  greatly  enjoying  the  refreshing 
sea  breeze.  Scarcely  had  he  reached  home,  how- 
ever, when  he  was  seized  with  a  chill,  which  proved 


OF   THE   BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  23 

to  be  the  precursor  of  African  fever.  His  beloved 
wife,  herself  in  feeble  health,  did  all  in  her  power 
with  the  assistance  and  remedies  within  reach  to 
arrest  the  fever,  but  in  vain.  He  rallied  once  or 
twice  sufficiently  to  encourage  the  hope  of  recovery, 
but  finally  sank  under  the  power  of  the  disease. 

Mr.  Brier  was  a  graduate  of  Wabash  College  and 
McCormick  Theological  Seminary,  and  a  member  of 
Crawfordsville  (Indiana)  Presbytery.  His  testi- 
monials from  college  and  seminary  were  of  a  high 
order  both  as  to  piety  and  scholarship.  In  applying 
to  the  Board  for  appointment  as  a  foreign  missionary, 
he  expressed  his  readiness  to  go  to  any  field,  and 
when  the  claim.s  of  Africa  were  presented,  after 
thoughtful  and  prayerful  consideration,  he  replied, 
' '  I  am  ready  to  go  to  Africa,  I  think,  with  my  whole 
heart."  He  reached  Gaboon  with  his  young  wife  on 
June  28,  1889,  and  after  a  few  months  spent  at  that 
port  of  entry  he  pushed  north  to  Batanga,  where  the 
Board,  after  consultation  with  the  German  authori- 
ties, had  determined  to  establish  a  station  on  the 
foundation  already  laid  by  our  native  workers  under 
supervision  from  Benita.  The  young  missionary 
entered  with  great  earnestness  upon  his  work,  apply- 
ing himself  closely  to  the  study  of  the  Benga  lan- 
guage, and  dispensing  the  ordinances  w4th  the  aid  of 
Itongolo,  a  trusted  native  licentiate.  From  the  first 
he  wrote  enthusiastically  of  the  field  where  his  lot 
had  been  cavSt,  counting  it  a  great  privilege  to  labor 
for  Christ  in  West  Africa.  On  April  i,  he  wrote, 
"  I  have  the  hearts  of  my  people,  and  they  acknowl- 
edge me  as  their  leader  and  counsellor."     On  April 


24  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

29,  he  penned  his  last  letter  to  the  Board,  which 
reached  New  York  just  before  the  news  of  his  death 
was  received.  In  it  he  says,  ''We  are  getting  along 
quietly,  making  some  progress  in  the  language.  I 
have  prepared  a  sermon  for  next  Sabbath  which  I 
have  written  wholly  myself  in  Benga."  He  had  the 
joy  of  receiving  a  goodly  number  into  the  fellowship 
of  the  Church  during  his  brief  ministry,  and  was 
looking  hopefully  for  still  larger  accessions  when  the 
summons  came.  His  heart  was  especially  set  on 
reaching  the  people  in  the  ''bush,"  as  the  region 
lying  back  of  the  coast  is  called,  and  at  his  own  ex- 
pense he  had  sent  a  native  Bible-reader  to  break  to 
them  the  bread  of  life.  He  was  happy  and  contented 
in  his  lot,  not  only  uttering  no  complaint,  but  writ- 
ing enthusiastically  of  his  home  and  his  work.  His 
precious  dust  lies  in  the  little  cemetery  which  he  had 
laid  out  on  the  mission  ground  on  the  hill,  while  his 
ransomed  spirit  has  entered  in  through  the  gates  into 
the  city  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord.  Mrs.  Brier, 
wonderfully  sustained  during  the  terrible  ordeal  of 
the  past  few  months,  has  returned  to  her  father's 
home  in  Indiana,  which  she  had  left  little  more  than 
a  year  ago  to  share  the  joys  and  the  sorrows  of  her 
beloved  husband  in  his  mission  life  in  Africa,  and  to 
whose  efficient  cooperation  in  that  work  he  bore  lov- 
ing testimony. 

Notwithstanding  the  trying  climate  of  the  African 
coast,  the  death  of  Mr.  Brier  is  the  first  which  has 
occurred  in  our  mission  for  a  number  of  years  past 
which  can  justly  be  ascribed  to  climatic  causes.  It  is 
a  severe  blow  to  the  mission  in  the  present  depleted 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  2$ 

condition  of  the  force,  but  God  will  not  suffer  that 
ripe  field  to  remain  without  a  reaper.  Two  ordained 
missionaries,  one  of  them  also  a  physician,  are 
already  under  appointment  for  Batanga,  and  although 
deeply  impressed  they  are  far  from  being  daunted  by 
the  shadow  which  has  fallen  upon  the  mission. 
While  remembering  in  our  prayers  the  bereaved  wife 
and  stricken  households  in  this  country,  let  us  also 
make  mention  of  those  who  go  nobly  forth  to  pick  up 
the  fallen  sickle  and  reap  for  the  Lord  of  hosts. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Brier,  Rev.  W.  C. 
Gault  visited  Batanga  and  at  the  urgent  request  of 
the  session  administered  the  Lord's  Supper.  Eleven 
persons  were  received  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
Church,  having  been  baptized  on  the  basis  of  their 
own  confession  of  faith. — CJnirch  at  Home  and 
Abroad^  September,   1890. 

Mrs.  W.  a.  Briggs,  M.D. 

Mrs.  Briggs  died  at  Lakawn,  Laos,  March  22, 
1 89 1,  soon  after  the  arrival  there  of  herself  and  hus- 
band. ''She  was  a  missionary  of  great  promise  in 
whom  not  only  her  home  friends  in  Nova  Scotia,  but 
those  in  New  York,  where  she  took  her  medical 
course,  had  the  highest  confidence.  Her  death  re- 
sulted from  rapid  development  of  pulmonary  tuber- 
culosis," originating  in  a  cold  caught  immediately 
before  sailing  from  America.  —  Woman's  Work. 

Mrs.  Mary  M.  Bryan. 

Early  on  Thursday  morning  last  (May  19,  1891), 
there  passed  from  earth  to  heaven  one  of  God's  dear 


26  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

children.  The  long  residence  of  the  Dashiell  family 
in  this  community  (Lakewood,  N.  J.),  the  prominence 
of  the  father  in  all  the  church  and  social  interests  of 
our  village,  the  character,  work,  life  work  of  the 
daughter  herself,  Mrs.  Bryan,  all  combine  to  draw  out 
the  heartiest  sympathies  of  their  wide  circle  of  friends. 
Mrs.  Mary  M.  Bryan  was  born  in  Stockbridge, 
Mass.,  May  27,  1858,  and  was  ten  years  of  age  when 
the  family  removed  to  Lakewood,  and  here  she  grew 
up  to  womanhood,  here  she  united  herself  to  the 
Church  of  Christ  on  July  2,  1876,  and  here,  in  Octo- 
ber, 1882,  she  was  married  to  the  Rev.  A.  V.  Bryan, 
in  the  church  of  which  her  father  was  then  pastor. 
It  was  not  the  ordinary  life  of  comfort  and  home  pri- 
vileges these  two  then  entered  upon,  for  they  sailed 
shortly  after  their  marriage  as  missionaries  to  Japan, 
gladly  leaving  the  old  life  behind  them  if  only  they 
could  do  something  for  the  Master.  There  they 
remained  until  a  year  ago,  when  they  returned  to  this 
country  for  a  much-needed  rest.  Their  work  in 
Japan  chiefly  centred  itself  at  the  city  of  Hiroshima, 
where  Mr.  Bryan  was  sent  to  found  a  mission  station, 
and  where  his  wife  gathered  a  large  Sabbath-school 
of  200  children  about  her,  to  whose  training  she 
gave  her  strength  and  exceptional  powers  of  teach- 
ing until  prostrated  by  a  severe  attack  of  typhoid 
fever.  It  was  during  their  residence  in  Tokio  that 
she  lost  her  first-born  son,  Alfred  Dashiell,  a  very 
bright  and  promising  lad  three  years  old,  and  doubt- 
less this  loss  as  well  as  the  following  hard  years  of 
joyful  labor  in  winning  souls  to  Christ  from  the  igno- 
rant around  her  were  the  means  of  bringing  her  to 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  2/ 

that  nearness  to  God  and  strong  faith  in  his  power  to 
comfort  and  help  which  came  out  so  clearly  in  the 
last  months  of  her  life.  Her  visit  to  this  country 
was  largely  made  to  recruit  her  health  for  further 
work  in  Japan.  But  God  ordered  otherwise  and 
has  called  her  up  higher.  After  much  suffering, 
but  with  a  conscious  and  clear  mind  and  an  unshaken 
faith  in  her  Saviour  she  passed  away  at  the  residence 
of  her  mother-in-law,  in  Orange,  N.  J.,  sending 
many  loving  messages  from  that  bed  of  death  to 
friends  at  home  and  in  Japan,  serenely  confident  that 
she  would  see  and  greet  friends  gone  before  her  to 
the  heavenly  home  and  committing  her  two  children 
as  confidently  to  the  care  of  a  covenant-keeping  God 
who  never  fails  to  respond  to  the  trust  of  his  people. 
Mrs.  Bryan  was  wonderfully  gifted  in  the  direction 
of  music  and  of  art,  her  powers  were  recognized 
and  largely  appreciated  at  home  and  abroad,  and  at 
the  same  time  her  nature  was  peculiarly  adapted  to 
the  work  to  which  she  was  consecrated.  Hers  was 
a  sunny  disposition,  genial  and  bright,  enabling  her 
quickly  to  make  friends  wherever  she  went.  Her 
mind  was  strong  to  grasp  the  truth  and  very  ready 
and  gifted  in  the  powers  of  expression,  so  that  .she 
quickly  took  rank  among  her  co-laborers  in  the  field, 
and  at  once  found  herself  the  centre  of  a  large  circle 
of  influence  among  the  Japanese,  whose  hearts  were 
hers  from  the  first.  That  work  to  man's  eyes  is 
ceased  on  earth.  Her  hands  are  folded  and  her  lips 
silent.  Yet  can  any  good  work  well  begun  ever 
stop  ?  The  souls  she  has  won  to  Christ  shall  speak 
for  her.     The  seed  of  truth  sown  in  faith  shall  yet 


28  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

bring  forth  their  harvest,  and  being  dead  her  influ- 
ence shall  yet  the  more  increase  by  the  power  of  him 
who  called  her  into  his  vineyard  and  she  heard  the 
call  and  obeyed. — Rev.  Charles  H.  McClellan. 


Mrs.  Stephen  Bush, 

Mrs.  Bush,  wife  of  Rev.  Stephen  Bush,  of  Siam 
Mission,  died  July  23,  185 1.  Her  last  days  were  full 
of  Christian  joy  and  peace.  *'  In  the  full  possession 
of  all  her  faculties,"  one  of  the  missionaries  wrote, 
'^without  one  cloud  to  separate  between  her  and  a 
present  Saviour,  she  went  down  into  the  Jordan  of 
death  singing  hallelujah  in  the  triumph  of  victory." 
The  Siamese  have  lost  in  her  a  faithful  praying 
friend;  the  mission  a  kind  and  exemplary  fellow- 
laborer,  and  her  bereaved  husband  an  affectionate 
and  beloved  companion. — Aimical  Report,  1852. 


Albert  Bushnell,  D.D. 

Advices  from  Africa,  bearing  date  of  December  3, 
1879,  have  been  received,  containing  the  painful  in- 
telligence that  on  Tuesday  night,  the  2d  of  Decem- 
ber, at  11.35  o'clock,  within  sight  of  the  African 
coast,  on  board  the  steamship  Ainbriz^  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Bushnell  departed  this  life,  after  a  brief  but  most 
acute  illness,  the  natural  sufferings  of  which  were 
aggravated  by  the  confinement,  the  noise,  and  the 
motion  of  the  steamer.  On  the  previous  Saturday  he 
sliowed  signs  of  illness,  and  became  prostrated  by  the 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  2Cj 

heart  difficulty  which  had  ah*eady  occasioned  serious 
anxiety  on  the  part  of  his  friends.  On  Sunday  morn- 
ing, his  stateroom  being  insufficiently  supplied  with 
the  fresh  air  for  which  he  was  panting,  the  captain 
kindly  prepared  for  him  a  bed  in  the  saloon,  where, 
attended  by  his  wife,  by  Miss  Janet  B.  Cameron  (a 
lady  also  going  out  to  the  Gaboon  Mission),  and  by 
the  faithful  physician  of  the  steamer,  he  received  all 
the  care  and  comfort  that  medical  aid  and  the  ten- 
derness of  the  most  profound  love  could  furnish.  On 
Monday  morning  he  was  more  comfortable,  and 
spoke  encouragingly  of  himself  ;  but  shortly  after- 
ward a  cold,  which  he  had  contracted  on  the  previous 
Friday,  developed  into  congestion  of  the  lungs;  he 
became  speechless,  and  on  the  following  evening  ex- 
pired in  the  arms  of  his  wife.  It  must  have  been 
within  a  few  hours  after  his  death  that  the  harbor  of 
Sierra  Leone  was  reached.  The  American  Consul 
visited  the  ship  and  arranged  for  the  burial  service, 
which  was  held  in  the  afternoon  at  the  Cathedral, 
whither  the  precious  remains  were  borne,  the  coffin 
being  draped  with  the  American  flag,  and  strewn 
with  flowers.  Mrs.  Bushnell  was  able  to  go  to  the 
grave,  sustained  by  that  unfaltering  faith  which  alone 
has  been  her  support  through  the  trying  experiences 
which  have  at  last  culminated  in  the  death  of  her 
beloved  husband  ;  and  now,  accompanied  by  Miss 
Cameron,  she  has  gone  on  to  Gaboon,  bravely  en- 
countering the  sorrowful  landing  there,  unsupported 
by  the  presence  of  him  whose  return  to  the  station 
was  so  eagerly  anticipated  by  the  converts  whom  his 
ministrations  had  raised  up  on  that  darkened  coast. 


30  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

The  death  of  Dr.  Bushnell,  painful  and  melancholy 
as  are  its  details,  is  the  crown  of  a  truly  sublime  life. 
And  while  the  instinctive  wish  is  that  he  might  have 
been  spared  to  behold  again  the  scene  of  those  labors 
to  which  his  soul  was  knit  in  the  bonds  of  sacred 
affection,  the  circumstances  under  which  his  decease 
has  been  accomplished  emphasize  in  the  most  solemn 
and  conspicuous  manner  the  Christian  and  chastened 
heroism  by  which  he  was  animated  in  the  service  of 
God.  The  sweetness  and  gentleness  of  his  refined 
demeanor  did  not  conceal  the  glowing  spirit  of  the 
martyr  that  burned  in  his  breast.  That  exquisite 
blending  of  courtesy  with  consecration  (a  union  of 
traits  that  made  him  an  honored  guest  in  many 
homes  of  England,  Scotland  and  America,  as  well  as 
an  object  of  deep  respect  among  the  officers  of  the 
French  Navy  frequenting  the  harbor  of  Gaboon) ;  the 
whole  course  of  his  self-denying  ministry  on  the 
west  coast ;  the  assiduous  literary  labors  undertaken 
for  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  the  vernacular 
among  the  tribes  of  equatorial  Africa  ;  and,  above 
all,  the  illumination  of  his  countenance  as  he  waved 
adieu  last  autumn  from  the  steamer's  deck  to  those 
who  knew,  as  well  as  he  knew,  that  he  was  going 
to  lay  down  his  life ;  this  finished  record  of  character 
and  achievement  has  now  been  signed  and  sealed  of 
God  in  the  manner  of  his  servant's  death.  From 
that  fresh  and  sacred  grave  at  Sierra  Leone  comes 
the  most  pathetic  and  the  most  soul-stirring  argu- 
ment for  the  consecration  of  new  men  to  the  foreign 
ministry  of  the  Church,  and  especially,  at  the  present 
moment,  for  the  manning  of  the  Gaboon  Mission. — 
Foreign  Missionary^  February,  1880. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  3i 

Rev.  John  Butler. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Butler,  together  with  that  of  his 
little  son,  on  the  12th  of  October,  1885,  from  cholera, 
has  called  forth  many  expressions  of  sorrow  from  his 
fellow-missionaries  and  others.  So  many  separate 
accounts  of  his  death  have  been  received  that  we  can 
only  epitomize  them  in  these  columns,  and  add  our 
own  tribute  of  high  regard  for  the  great  worth  of  the 
deceased.  The  family,  with  other  missionaries,  had 
attended  the  missionary  meeting  at  Nanking,  and 
were  returning  down  the  Yangtse  in  open  boats. 
While  at  church  on  Sabbath  morning,  at  Chinkiang, 
the  little  son  was  taken  with  cholera,  from  which  he 
died  after  about  sixteen  hours.  Meantime  the  father 
also  was  attacked,  and  died  ten  hours  later.  Medical 
attendance  had  been  secured,  and  all  kindness  and 
assistance  were  shown  by  our  OAvn  missionaries  and 
those  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission,  residing  at 
Chinkiang;  but  no  earthly  sympathy  or  aid  could 
avail  much  in  an  hour  so  dark  to  the  dying  or  the 
bereft.  Through  the  mercy  of  God  the  wife  and  the 
younger  child  were  spared,  and  no  other  deaths  oc- 
curred. Mr.  Butler  was  connected  with  the  Christian 
Commission  during  the  late  war,  and  rendered  good 
service  among  our  soldiers.  After  graduating  at 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  he  was  sent  as  a 
missionary  of  the  Board  to  China  in  1868.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  city  of  Ningpo,  and  there  he  has  lived 
and  labored  continuously,  with  the  exception  of  a  visit 
to  this  coimtry  in  1881.  Fourteen  years  of  fraternal 
correspondence,    together  with   a  visit,   some   years 


32  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

since,  to  his  mission  station,  had  won  our  high  esteem 
and  affection  for  the  departed,  and  onr  sense  of  loss 
is  deep  and  genuine.  He  was  genial  and  sunny,  and  yet 
thoroughly  consecrated.  Next  to  piety  stood  his  un- 
failing common  sense.  He  was  a  conscientious  worker, 
husbanding  his  time  as  one  who  should  give  account. 

Rev.  W.  S.  Holt,  long  associated  with  him  in  the 
Ningpo  Mission,  says  of  him,  very  justly  :  "  He  was 
an  earnest,  devoted  missionary.  He  had  made  him- 
self familiar  with  the  dialect  of  the  Ningpo  people, 
and  was  well  known  and  highly  esteemed  among 
them  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  He  had  the  con- 
fidence and  love  of  the  native  pastors,  in  whom  he 
took  a  fraternal  interest,  trying  to  enter  into  their 
thoughts  and  feelings,  and  so  be  able  to  sympathize 
with  and  assist  them.  In  his  counsels  with  the  mis- 
sionaries, concerning  the  questions  before  us,  he  was 
cool,  careful,  thoughtful,  seeking  always  those  meas- 
ures which  should  give  stability  to  our  work  and  de- 
velop the  piety  of  the  Church.  He  also  did  good  ser- 
vice in  training  young  men  for  the  position  of 
preachers  and  helpers.  Probably  no  mission  in  China 
is  better  equipped  with  a  well-trained  native  pastorate 
than  the  one  with  which  our  late  brother  was  con- 
nected. He  took  great  interest  in  education  in  every 
form  and  grade,  but  perhaps  the  Presbyterial  school, 
carried  on  by  the  Presbytery  of  Ningpo,  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  sons  of  Christians,  was  his  chief  pride. 
Good  service  was  also  rendered  by  him  in  helping  to 
prepare  a  Christian  literature  for  the  mission.  But 
the  chief  part  of  Mr.  Butler's  work  as  a  missionary 
was  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen." 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  33 

Mr.  Holt  pays  a  high  tribute  to  the  deceased  as  an 
itinerant  preacher.  He  visited  the  cities  and  villages 
of  the  plain  of  Chinkiang  Province,  navigated  the 
rivers  and  canals,  traversed  mountains  on  foot,  in 
chairs,  in  miserable  boats,  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  in 
perils  oft,  with  little  physical  comfort,  but  with  the 
great  satisfaction  which  labor  for  the  Master  gives. 
Working  upon  the  foundations  laid  by  his  predecessors 
in  the  oldest  mission  field  in  Central  China,  and  lay- 
ing the  foundations  for  new  work  in  regions  hitherto 
unvisited,  he  delighted  in  the  Gospel  as  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation,  and  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
it  bring  salvation  to  many  heathen  hearts. — Foreign 
Missionary^  February,  1886. 

Rev.  John  Byers. 

Mr.  Byers  was  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  of 
pious  parents,  who  from  his  infancy  dedicated  him  to 
the  ministry.  With  this  object  in  view  he  was  sent 
to  the  University  of  Glasgow,  Scotland,  where  he 
graduated  with  honor  in  his  seventeenth  or  eighteenth 
year.  I  think  that  it  was  during  his  college  course 
that,  knowing  he  was  designed  for  the  sacred  minis- 
try, and  feeling  at  the  same  time  a  repugnance  to 
entering  it  without  a  change  of  heart,  which  he  felt 
he  did  not  possess,  he  determined  to  avoid  it 
altogether.  Still  the  wishes  of  his  parents  seemed  to 
weigh  heavily  on  his  mind,  and  to  carry  out  his  pur- 
poses least  offensively  to  them,  he  made  up  his  mind, 
with  their  approbation,  to  go  to  America.  His 
father  furnished  him  with  what  means  he  could,  and 


34  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

when  he  left  his  native  land,  I  think  his  intention  was 
to  engage  in  some  mercantile  business  on  his  arrival 
in  the  United  States.  During  the  voyage  he  was 
much  occupied  with  serious  thoughts,  which  appear 
to  have  disturbed  his  future  plans.  He  landed  in 
New  York  in  the  fall  of  1848,  and  as  he  afterwards 
remarked,  about  the  same  time  that  the  party  of  mis- 
sionaries he  was  afterwards  to  join  sailed  for  China. 

Soon  after  his  landing  he  became  acquainted  with 
Rev.  J.  W.  Alexander,  D.D.,  through  whose  instru- 
mentality he  found  himself,  within  ten  days  after  his 
arrival,  on  the  way  to  Princeton,  to  enter  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  He  became  a  member  of  Dr. 
Alexander's  church  [whether  by  letter  from  home  or 
by  profession  at  a  future  period  he  did  not  say — I  sup- 
pose the  former,  from  the  fact  of  church-membership 
being  required  in  order  to  enter  the  Seminary],  but 
his  own  conviction  was  that  he  never  met  with  a 
change  of  heart  till  his  first  year  in  the  Seminary. 
He  found  himself,  as  he  said,  in  a  different  atmosphere 
from  what  he  had  ever  before  been  in.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  change,  the  principles  of  religion 
seem  to  have  taken  at  this  time  a  more  deep  hold  of 
his  quiet  yet  earnest  spirit.  In  his  studies,  which  he 
loved  now  both  for  their  own  sake  and  the  relation 
which  they  had  to  his  future  course,  he  seems  to  have 
embarked  with  intense  zeal.  Trusting  too  much  to 
what  he  supposed  was  a  good  constitution,  he  soon 
found  himself  a  dyspeptic,  with  its  accompanying  fits 
of  melancholy.  His  zeal  to  engage  in  the  work 
which  he  had  before  avoided  seemed  to  have  led  him 
to  the  choice  of  the  Foreign  Missionary  field.     After 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  35 

completing  his  three  years'  course,  and  having  been 
appointed  a  missionary  to  Shanghai,  China,  he  left 
on  a  visit  to  his  parents  in  his  native  land.  After 
spending  nearly  a  year  visiting  his  native  land,  and 
portions  of  England  and  Scotland,  during  which  time 
he  was  married,  he  embarked  again  for  the  United 
States,  and  soon  sailed  for  Shanghai,  China,  where 
he  arrived  August,  1852. 

He  gave  himself  to  the  study  of  the  Chinese  lan- 
guage with  what  he  aftenvards  styled  a  miserly  feel- 
ing, too  grasping  and  greedy  in  what  was,  to  a  proper 
extent,  commendable.  It  was  not  long,  however, 
before  symptoms  of  pulmonary  disease  were  de- 
veloped. He  lost  strength  rapidly,  and,  under  medi- 
cal advice,  it  was  deemed  best  that  he  should  return 
to  the  United  States.  But  he  did  not  survive  the 
voyage,  dying  on  May  7,  1853,  a  few  days  before  the 
ship  arrived  at  New  York.  His  remains  were  in- 
terred in  this  city.  His  bereaved  companion,  a  lady 
held  in  high  esteem,  was  received  with  warm  sym- 
pathy, and  after  some  time  she  returned  to  her  native 
country. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  K.  Wight,  with  whom  Mr.  Byers 
was  associated  at  Shanghai,  whose  sketch  has  fur- 
nished the  preceding  particulars,  says  further :  "It 
was  evident  to  all  who  knew  him  here,  that  God  had  en- 
dowed him  with  a  quick,  vigorous  and  discriminating 
intellect.  He  grasped  knowledge  quickly  and  thor- 
oughly. His  judgment  was  clear  and  good,  and  for 
a  man  of  his  age  uncommonly  trustworthy.  Even  in 
matters  new  to  him  which  came  soon  after  his  arrival, 
he  soon  saw  and  imderstood  what  course  was  best  to 


36  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

be  pursued.  In  disposition,  he  was  gentle ;  he  was 
neither  rough  nor  forward;  neither  rash  nor  stub- 
born ;  and  yet  he  was  not  easy  and  inactive,  but  full 
of  strong  and  earnest  feeling ;  ready,  where  judgment 
and  Christian  principle  sanctioned,  to  push  forward 
in  any  good  work.  His  piety  took  in  some  measure 
the  shape  of  his  disposition.  It  was  practical,  ex- 
tending to  his  whole  hf e,  yet  not  officious ;  still  it  was 
earnest,  and  had  possession  of  his  whole  nature. 
Practical  duties  were  performed  not  merely  as  duties, 
but  as  the  result  of  the  inner  life.  His  rehgion 
welled  up  from  a  heart  living  by  faith  in  the  Son  of 
God,  and  was  manifest,  not  so  much  because  his  ob- 
ject was  to  manifest  it,  as  because  it  existed ;  because 
the  truth  was  loved  and  felt,  and  operated  on  the  out- 
ward life ;  because  out  of  the  abundance  of  his  heart 
his  mouth  spoke.  It  was  seen  in  his  face  and  con- 
duct; in  the  constant  spiritual  conflict  and  final  vic- 
tory even  over  the  last  enemy,  death,  when  in  peace 
he  went  home  to  God." — ■/.  C.  L. 

Rev.  William  Calderwood. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Calderwood,  with  other  missionaries, 
sailed  from  Boston  for  India  July  17,  1855,  and 
reached  their  assigned  station  at  Saharunpur  in  De- 
cember. Mr.  Calderwood  was  a  minister  of  the  Re- 
formed Presbyterian  Church,  and  sustained  the  same 
relation  to  the  Board  as  the  other  missionaries  of 
that  Church  in  India.  The  year  before  his  death  he 
became  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  Lodiana. 
After  a  long  and  faithful  service  he  departed  this  life 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  37 

at  Lodiana  May  22,  1889,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his 
age  and  thirty-fourth  of  his  ministry. — Annual  Re- 
port, 1890. 


Mrs.  Lizzie  Greenleaf  Calderwood. 

Mrs.  Calderwood,  wife  of  Rev.  WilHam  Calderwood, 
of  the  mission  in  India,  died  August  15,  1859.  Her 
amiable  disposition,  her  unaffected  missionary  zeal 
and  her  humble  and  exemplary  piety  secured  for  her 
the  warm  regard  of  her  missionary  companions  who 
mourn  over  her  early  removal  from  their  ranks. — 
Annual  Report,  i860. 

A  brief  memorial  of  Mrs.  Calderwood  by  her  hus- 
band was  published  by  the  American  Tract  Society. 

' '  All  could  easily  see  her  courageous  patience,  but 
all  might  not  observe  the  form  of  one  like  the  Son  of 
God  walking  in  the  midst  of  the  fire  with  her,  bend- 
ing over  her,  comforting  her  so  sweetly  that  even  tears 
of  joy  were  brought  to  her  eyes.  '  Is  Jesus  with  you  ?' 
I  asked.  Not  in  a  whisper,  but  in  so  loud  and  cheer- 
ful a  voice  that  every  one  in  the  room  was  startled, 
she  replied,  '  Yes,  he  is. '  Shortly  after  this,  with  an 
unusual  effort,  she  turned  herself  from  her  right  to 
her  left  side,  so  that  she  could  extend  her  right  hand, 
saying,  '  Now  I  am  going  home ;  come.  Lord  Jesus, 
come  quickly.'  These  were  her  last  words.  Then 
shaking  my  hand  with  an  energy  that  quite  surprised 
me,  she  smiled,  much  as  if  we  were  parting  only  for 
an  afternoon.  Two  hours  later  she  sank  to  rest,  or 
rather  rose  to  glory. " 


38  necrological  record 

Rev.  Joseph  Caldwell. 

This  veteran  missionary  died  at  Landour,  India, 
June  3,  1877,  after  a  short  illness.  Mr.  Caldwell  left 
the  United  States  December  29,  1837,  for  Calcutta, 
which  he  reached  in  due  time.  He  had  therefore 
been  in  India  nearly  forty  years,  having  never  re- 
turned in  all  this  time  to  his  native  land.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  that  body  he  was 
designated  to  Saharanpur,  where  Rev.  J.  R.  Campbell 
of  the  same  Church  was  stationed.  Mr.  Caldwell  was 
twice  married.  He  leaves  a  widow  and  several 
children  in  India ;  a  son  is  in  the  United  States  study- 
ing in  one  of  our  colleges.  Rev.  R.  Thackwell,  in 
simply  communicating  the  notice  of  his  death,  says: 
' '  He  was  a  good  man,  with  much  of  the  spirit  of 
Christ,"  and  adds,  "  Our  old  men  are  dropping  off 
fast.  Warren  and  Caldwell  gone,  and  who  knows 
how  soon  the  rest  will  follow  ?  Humanly  speaking,  we 
may  expect  death  to  make  sad  havoc  in  our  ranks  be- 
fore long  and  we  have  no  reinforcements  to  fill  up  the 
gap." — Foreign  Missionary^  August,  1877. 


Mrs.  Jane  Caldwell. 

Mrs.  Caldwell,  wife  of  Rev.  Joseph  Caldwell,  died 
at  Saharanpur,  India,  on  the  8th  of  November,  1839. 
The  Missionary  Chronicle  of  April,  1840,  pays  a  brief 
but  high  tribute  to  her  excellence  as  a  Christian 
woman  and  her  qualifications  for  usefulness. 

*■ '  She  anticipated  a  fatal  termination  to  her  disease 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  39 

(a  fever),  but  was  perfectly  resigned  and  well  sup- 
ported by  the  grace  of  Christ  Jesus.  She  was  a  truly 
estimable  woman,  as  all  can  bear  witness  who  were 
well  acquainted  with  her.  A  more  unaffected  and 
humble-minded  follower  of  Christ  we  have  seldom 
known.  She  seemed  also  to  be  well  qualified  for  use- 
fulness, but  her  missionary  course  has  been  a  brief 
one.     Such  has  been  the  will  of  the  Lord."-—/.  C.  L. 


Rev.  Simeon  Howard  Calkoun. 

The  Syrian  Mission  and  the  cause  of  Christ  have 
met  with  a  sad  loss  in  the  death  of  Mr.  Calhoun, 
which  occurred  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  December  14, 
1876. 

A  year  and  a  half  ago  the  deceased  returned  with 
his  family  from  Syria,  v/here  he  had  labored  in  the 
cause  of  Missions  for  about  thirty-five  years.  He 
had  previously  been  employed  about  nine  years  by 
the  American  Bible  Society — having  been  the  first 
to  represent  that  work  as  a  special  department  of 
service  in  the  East.  For  a  long  period  he  had  been 
stationed  at  Abeih,  where  he  had  been  instrumental 
in  training  up  most  of  the  preachers  and  teachers 
now  employed  in  the  S3^rian  Mission  of  the  Presb}^- 
terian  Board,  besides  several  who  are  engaged  by 
other  societies  in  Syria,  Palestine  and  Egypt. 

Even  before  the  commencement  of  his  missionary 
labors  and  while  he  was  engaged  as  tutor  in  Williams 
College,  he  was  noted  for  the  peculiar  simplicity  and 
ardor  of  his  piety  and  for  the  great  influence  which 


40  NECROLOGICAL    RFXORD 

in  this  respect  lie  exerted  on  the  minds  of  the  stu- 
dents. 

These  elements  in  his  character  especially  quali- 
fied him  for  his  great  work  as  an  instructor  of  native 
preachers  in  Syria. 

•As  was  shown  by  his  modest  references  to  his 
work  in  his  eloquent  speech  in  the  last  General 
Assembly,  all  his  instruction  was  eminently  Scriptu- 
ral. The  Bible  and  the  Catechism  have  never  had 
a  higher  place  assigned  them  in  any  portion  of  the 
Church  at  home  or  abroad  than  in  the  Syrian  Mis- 
sion ;  and  this  may  have  been  largely  due  to  the 
influence  and  example  of  the  deceased. 

He  had  good  reason  to  love  the  Word  of  God.  In 
early  life  he  had  been  skeptical,  but  had  been  fol- 
lowed by  the  prayers  of  a  Godly  mother,  who  had 
consecrated  him  to  Christ  and  to  the  mission  work  at 
his  birth  ;  and  he  was  at  length  constrained  to  search 
the  Scriptures  for  the  revealed  way  of  life.  He 
came  to  the  Bible  therefore  on  the  start  as  a  real 
student,  and  he  never  ceased  to  be  such  till  the  day 
of  his  death. 

In  his  parentage  he  combined  the  Scotch  and  the 
Protestant  Irish  elements,  and  on  both  sides  he  inher- 
ited great  strength  of  character.  The  family,  in 
which  there  were  several  sons,  was  a  remarkable 
one.  All  became  men  of  influence  and  some  of 
them  rose  to  high  positions  in  our  national  councils. 
It  was  often  said  of  the  deceased  by  his  friends  that 
if  he  had  not  been  a  missionary  he  might  have  made 
a  statesman  of  the  highest  rank.  No  man  could 
ever  look  upon  his  commanding  figure  and  strikingly 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  4I 

noble  face  without  feeling  the  strong  magnetism  of 
his  presence  ;  nor  could  one  remain  long  with  him 
without  feeling  also  the  sympathetic  glow  of  his 
unfeigned  piety.  He  was  a  far-sighted  and  sagacious 
man,  penetrating  the  character  of  those  about  him 
very  deeply  ;  and  yet  in  all  that  related  to  himself 
he  had  the  simplicity  of  a  little  child.  His  whole 
life  was  one  of  humility.  He  declined  to  receive  hon- 
orary degrees  from  the  colleges,  not  from  pride  and 
affectation,  but  from  a  sincere  dread  of  ostentation. 

It  was  my  privilege  two  3^ears  ago  to  attend  the 
annual  sessions  of  the  Syrian  Mission,  at  which  he 
presided.  I  can  never  forget  those  days.  It  was 
easy  to  see  that  the  reverence  with  which  he  inspired 
me  was  felt  by  all  his  associates.  He  was  revered 
and  deeply  loved  as  a  prudent  counselor  and  a 
father.  At  one  of  the  closing  prayer  meetings  he 
read  the  Scriptures  and  followed  with  some  remarks 
on  the  reality  of  Heaven  and  the  fact  that  if  per- 
mitted we  should  meet  the  New  Testament  worthies 
of  whom  he  had  read — this  one  and  that  one — and 
instead  of  communing  with  them  in  thought  across 
the  abyss  of  eighteen  centuries  we  should  greet 
them  as  brethren  by  our  side.  This  anticipation, 
which  then  seemed  almost  to  irradiate  his  face,  has 
now  become  to  him  a  blessed  reality. 

He  spoke  even  then  of  the  fact  that  he  had 
reached  the  limits  of  three-score  years  and  ten  and 
could  not  expect  a  long  service  ;  and  since  that  time 
I  have  often  heard  him  speak  of  the  uncertainty 
which  rested  upon  all  his  future  except  that  which 
lay  beyond  the  grave. 


42  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

His  influence  in  Syria  was  very  great  among  all 
classes.  Not  only  the  American  missionaries,  but  the 
English  and  German  residents  revered  him  and  fre- 
quently resorted  to  him  for  counsel.  Natives,  too, 
of  whatever  religious  faith,  honored  him  with  im- 
plicit faith.  It  is.  easy  for  those  who  know  the  deep 
love  of  the  native  Christians  of  Abeih  to  predict  that 
the  sad  tidings  of  his  death  will  make  the  place  a 
Bochim  of  sincere  grief. 

Those  who  were  not  of  his  faith  also  honored  him. 
A  striking  proof  of  this  fact  was  given  at  the  time  of 
the  Druse  massacre,  fifteen  years  ago.  Deir  el 
Komer  and  other  adjacent  villages  were  drenched 
with  the  blood  of  the  murdered  Maronites,  and  it 
seemed  probable  that  not  only  natives  but  mission- 
aries in  Abeih  and  the  vicinity  would  share  the  same 
fate.  On  all  sides,  therefore,  the  Maronites  hastened 
to  the  house  of  Mr.  Calhoun  with  their  treasures, 
while  they  fled  to  such  resorts  as  they  could  find. 
These  were  left  without  receipt  or  registry  with  the 
confident  belief  that  all  would  be  safe.  When  at 
length  a  French  fleet  appeared  in  Beirut  harbor  and 
the  Druses  were  panic-stricken,  they  also  came  to  the 
same  asylum  and  with  the  same  implicit  trust. 

Unbelieving  critics  and  croakers  may  sneer  at 
missionaries  and  their  so-called  bootless  work,  but 
such  attestations  of  their  influence  as  these  should  at 
least  silence  all  cavils  of  professed  friends  of  Christ. 

But  Mr.  Calhoun's  influence  was  not  confined  to 
Syria.  Many  a  traveler  from  Great  Britain  as  well 
as  from  this  country  had  looked  with  admiration  upon 
the   consecration  of  a  truly  great  man  to  the  quiet 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  43 

and  unostentatious  work  of  a  missionary  in  a  little 
mountain  hamlet  of  Syria.  An  American  theologi- 
cal professor  had  said  that  nowhere  had  he  found  a 
riper  scholar  in  the  wisdom  of  the  Great  Salvation 
than  in  this  modest  sage  of  Lebanon.  The  real 
power  and  grandeur  of  the  mission  work  were  nobly 
illustrated  by  such  a  life  and  work,  and  men  of  wealth 
and  of  letters  came  down  from  Abeih  as  from  a  mount 
of  vision  in  which  they  had  seen  a  truer  and  a  nobler 
side  of  human  life. 

In  the  American  churches  also  Mr.  Calhoun  had 
sown  the  seed  of  goodly  influence  both  during  his. 
former  visit  and  since  his  last  return.  The  former 
visit  was  made  while  the  Syrian  Mission  was  still 
under  the  care  of  the  American  Board,  which  the 
deceased  had  served  for  so  many  years  and  which  to 
the  end  he  deeply  loved.  He  then  visited  princi- 
pally the  churches  of  New  England,  in  which  he 
was  always  welcomed  with  the  highest  appreciation. 

During  his  later  visit  he  has  seen  more  of  the 
churches  supporting  the  Presbyterian  Board  with 
which  he  was  in  full  accord  ;  and  they  too — many  of 
them — have  seen  his  face  and  heard  his  voice  and 
witnessed  his  Godly  walk  and  have  thereby  been 
strengthened  in  their  missionary  faith  and  zeal.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  estimate  the  value  of  his  speech 
before  the  last  General  Assembly.  It  seems  a  strik- 
ing providence  that  almost  as  his  last  work  he  should 
have  been  permitted  to  stand  up  before  the  Chief 
Judicatory  of  the  Church  and  make  such  a  testimony 
and  breathe  upon  its  hundreds  of  ministers  and 
elders  such  a  spirit.     The  speech  was  eloquent,  but 


44  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

it  was  more  ;  it  had  a  kind  of  inspiration.  There 
was  a  great  man  and  a  holy  apostle  behind  it.  There 
was  already  in  his  pale  face  and  tremulous  voice  a 
sort  of  prophecy  of  the  end  which  has  now  come  ; 
and  the  effect  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
whole  Assembly  was  very  deep  and  very  salutary. 
It  was  his  desire,  then  expressed,  to  go  back  to  Syria, 
''if  the  Lord  will,"  and  there  having  finished  his 
course  to  be  buried  among  his  people.  The  desire 
has  not  been  granted  him;  but  wherever  his  grave 
may  be  he  still  lives  in  Abeih  and  will  live  for  gener- 
ations to  come. 

He  was  fond  even  to  the  last  of  looking  out  into 
the  future  and  enjoying,  as  if  already  come,  the  sure 
triumphs  of  Christ's  kingdom.  His  work  was  not 
the  mere  drudgery  of  the  day,  but  was  eminently  a 
work  of  loving  faith  and  confident  expectation.  His 
outlook  and  place  of  prayer  on  the  heights  at  Abeih 
was  not  unlike  that  which  Elijah  occupied  on  the 
summit  of  Carmel,  a  little  farther  down  the  coast ; 
and  like  that  prince  of  the  prophets,  he  too  has  long 
watched  the  little  cloud  in  the  horizon,  believing 
that  the  fullness  of  the  divine  blessing  would  surely 
come. — Rev.  F.  F.  Ellinwood^  Foreign  Missionary^ 
December,  1877. 

Rev.  Charles  William  Calhoun,  M.D. 

Dr.  Calhoun  was  born  in  Syria,  a  graduate  of 
Williams  College,  and  died  after  four  years'  mission- 
ary service  at  Schweifat,  near  Beirut,  June  22,  1883, 
in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  45 

*'The  brief  dispatch  which  brought  the  tidings  of 
the  death  of  Rev.  Charles  William  Calhoun,  M.D., 
of  the  Syria  Mission,  was  one  of  those  sudden  shocks 
which,  however  frequently  they  befall  this  earthly 
life,  never  lose  their  strangeness  nor  their  depressing 
influence.  The  deceased  was  the  only  son  of  the  late 
veteran  of  Syria,  the  Rev.  Simeon  Howard  Calhoun, 
w^ho,  in  the  days  of  his  venerable  dignity  and  power, 
the  late  Dr.  William  Adams  was  accustomed  to  call 
*  the  Cedar  of  Lebanon. '  On  this  son  the  father  had  be- 
stowed much  careful  and  prayerful  training,  and  upon 
entering  into  his  own  rest  had  great  satisfaction  in 
feeling  the  son  would  bear  forward  in  the  conquest  of 
Syria  the  ensign  which  the  father  had  laid  down. 

"  Dr.  Calhoun,  after  completing  his  course  both  in 
theology  and  in  medicine,  sailed  for  Syria  in  the 
autumn  of  1879,  ^-nd  was  assigned  by  the  mission  to 
the  Tripoli  Station,  where  until  last  year  he  was 
eminently  active  and  useful.  For  months  past  he 
had  experienced  much  difficulty  from  petty  persecu- 
tions of  the  local  Turkish  authorities,  instigated  by 
a  rival  native  physician.  Whether  the  worriment  of 
this  trouble  had  any  influence  in  developing  his  dis- 
ease is  not  known.  It  is  more  probable  that  the 
great  fatigue  which  he  had  encountered  in  a  recent 
tour  through  Northern  Syria  prostrated  him  with  the 
low  fever  which  finally  proved  fatal.  Dr.  Calhoun 
was  the  chief  solace  and  support  of  his  mother,  who 
had  spent  long  years  in  the  midst  of  active  mission- 
ary labor  ;  and  three  sisters,  to  whom  he  was  a 
brother  beloved,  and  in  counsel  also  a  father,  are 
left  to  mourn  his  untimely  loss. 


46  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

"The  congenial  and  happy  disposition  of  the 
deceased  made  him  a  favorite  both  in  this  country 
and  in  Syria.  Just  at  the  time  of  his  death  there 
was  increased  hope  that  all  the  difficulties  which 
had  embarrassed  his  work  were  speedily  to  be 
removed,  and  that  his  usefulness  would  be  far 
greater  than  ever  before.  Seemingly  in  vigorous 
health,  he  had  reason  to  expect  a  long  life  in  the 
missionary  work  ;  but,  alas !  '  the  battle  is  not  to 
the  strong,  nor  the  race  to  the  swift.'  In  this  case, 
as  in  that  of  the  late  Rev.  Charles  McLaren,  of 
Siam,  we  confront  the  mystery  of  that  providence 
which  seems  often  to  strike  down  those  who  are 
strongest  and  richest  in  promise  of  good." — Foreign 
Missionary^  August,  1883. 

Rev.  James  R.  Campbell,  D.D. 

Dr.  Campbell  was  a  native  of  Ireland,  but  came  to 
this  country  in  his  youth.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Reformed  Presbyterian  Church,  and  pursued  his 
studies  under  its  direction.  Appointed  as  a  mis- 
sionary, he  arrived  in  India  with  his  wife  in  1836. 
With  the  exception  of  a  visit  to  this  country,  during 
which  he  prepared  for  the  press  a  w^ork  on  Missions 
in  Hindustan,  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1852,  he 
spent  his  life  as  a  minister  in  faithful  labors  on 
heathen  ground.  His  death  is  thus  referred  to  in  the 
i?^<:^r^  of  January,  1863: 

''It  is  with  great  regret  we  have  to  record  the 
death  of  the  Rev.  James  R.  Campbell,  D.D.,  of 
Saharanpur,  at  Landour,  India,  on  the  i8th  of  Sep- 


OF   THE    ROx\RD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  47 

tember,  1862.  His  illness  was  a  gangrenous  affection 
of  one  of  his  feet,  which  caused  extreme  suffering, 
but  he  was  enabled  to  bear  his  sufferings  with 
patience,  and  he  departed  this  life  in  the  blessed 
hope  of  immortality.  He  was  in  the  sixty-second 
year  of  his  age,  having  been  a  missionary  in  India 
over  twenty-six  years.  He  was  greatly  esteemed  by 
his  brethren  of  the  Lodiana  Mission  and  other  friends 
in  India,  as  well  as  by  a  large  number  of  Christian 
friends  in  this  country.  His  death  is  a  great  loss  to 
the  mission.  He  was  a  laborious  energetic  faithful 
laborer  in  the  vineyard,  and  one  greatly  useful  in  his 
work.  We  mourn  over  his  death,  but  we  feel  grate- 
ful to  God  for  the  grace  manifested  in  his  life  and 
labors  during  so  many  years. 

"Dr.  Campbell's  account  of  the  death  of  Samuel, 
a  native  catechist  at  Saharanpur,  and  his  reflections 
thereon,  may  well  supplement  his  own  brief  memorial. 
'  I  asked  him  if  he  was  afraid  to  die.  "  No,  sir,"  he 
said;  "  I  am  not  now  afraid.  I  am  now  fully  recon- 
ciled to  the  will  of  God.  I  do  not  wish  to  live  longer 
in  this  sinful  world. "  On  being  asked  where  his  hopes 
for  salvation  were  placed,  he  replied  emphatically, 
"  On  Christ  alone;  he  is  the  only  Saviour,  and  I  know 
he  will  not  disappoint  my  hopes;"  and  then,  bursting 
into  tears,  he  said,  "Oh,  sir,  how  much  I  owe  to 
you !  You  are  the  means  of  leading  me  to  Christ,  and 
of  instructing  me  and  saving  my  soul."  This  was  so 
much  more  than  I  had  expected,  it  was  too  much  for 
me,  and  we  both  wept  together.  At  that  moment  I 
thought  that  this  was  more  than  enough  to  compensate 
me  for  all  the  trials  I  have  ever  been  called  to  endure 


4-8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

as  a  missionary.  I  could  have  changed  places  with 
dear  Samuel,  to  enjoy  his  happiness  and  assurance  of 
hope.'  Examples  like  these  are  precious  seals  of  the 
favor  of  Heaven  towards  the  missionary  work." 


Mrs.  James  R.  Campbell. 

On  the  19th  of  March,  1874,  Mrs.  Campbell,  widow 
of  the  late  Dr.  James  R.  Campbell,  fell  asleep  in 
Jesus  at  Ambala,  N.  India.  She  was  at  the  time  of 
her  decease  the  oldest  female  missionary  in  the 
Lodiana  Mission.  She  first  went  to  that  country  in 
1835,  and  for  a  large  part  of  her  life  was  connected 
with  the  station  at  Saharanpur,  and  had  much  to  do 
with  the  establishment  and  care  of  the  orphanage  in 
that  place.  Mrs.  Campbell  spent  about  two  years, 
from  1858  to  i860,  in  Elizabeth,  N.  J.,  for  the  educa- 
tion of  her  children,  having  brought  them  to  this 
country  for  that  purpose. — Foreign  Missionary,  June, 
1874. 

Rev.  David  E.  Campbell. 

Mr.  Campbell  was  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  born 
in  1825,  and  a  graduate  of  Marshall  College  and  of 
the  Allegheny  Theological  Seminary.  He  went  to 
India  with  his  wife  in  1850,  and  was  settled  at  Fut- 
tehgurh,  actively  and  faithfully  engaged  in  the  usual 
missionary  labors,  until  overtaken  by  the  storm  of 
the  Sepoy  Rebellion  in  1857.  Mr.  Campbell,  his 
wife,  and  their  two  youngest  children  (the  oldest  be- 
ing  absent   from   home   at   the   time,   and   thereby 


OF   THE   BOARD    OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  49 

saved),  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Freeman,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John- 
son, and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McMuUin,  were  led  to  seek 
safety  by  trying  to  reach  Allahabad,  a  British  station 
250  miles  lower  down  on  the  Ganges;  but  their  voy- 
age ended  in  their  being  taken  prisoners  and  put  to 
death  at  Cawnpore,  by  orders  of  the  rebel  chief  Nena 
Sahib,  on  the  13th  of  June,  1857.  They,  in  com- 
pany with  a  large  number  of  other  prisoners,  Eng- 
lish officers,  merchants,  planters,  and  many  of  their 
wives  and  children,  were  shot  early  in  the  morning 
on  the  parade  ground  of  that  city.  The  history  of 
these  terrible  times  has  been  so  often  written,  that 
no  particular  narrative  need  be  given  here.  Mr. 
Walsh's  book,  Memorial  of  tJie  FitttcJigiLrJi  Mis- 
sionarics^  will,  of  course,  be  consulted  by  persons 
who  seek  fuller  information. — See  Appendix^  Narra- 
tive of  Events  at  FutteJigurJi^  etc. 


Mrs.  Mary  J.  Campbell. 

Mrs.  Campbell,  wife  of  the  Rev.  D.  E.  Campbell, 
was  a  native  of  Ohio.  Her  portrait  in  Mr.  Walsh's 
book  would  lead  one  to  feel  assured  that  a  sweet  and 
gentle  spirit  animated  her;  and  her  life  was  indeed 
marked  by  great  Christian  excellence.  She  was  ac- 
tive in  fulfilling  her  missionary  duties,  and  equally 
faithful  as  a  wife  and  a  mother.  Always  trying  to 
do  the  work  of  the  Lord,  yet  shrinking  from  notice 
or  commendation;  humble,  conscientious,  trusting 
only  in  the  Saviour,  she,  no  doubt,  found  his  grace 
all-sufficient  in  the  last  hour.  She  was  in  her  twenty- 
seventh  year  when  she  was  put  to  death  at  Cawnpore. 


50  kecrological  record 

Miss  Mary  M.  Campbell. 

Miss  Campbell,  of  the  Laos  Mission,  died  February 
8,  1 88 1.  She  was  drowned  on  her  return  by  boat 
from  Bangkok  to  Chiengmai.  She  was  bathing  at 
the  time  of  the  accident,  and  noble  efforts  were  made 
to  rescue  her  by  Dr.  Cheek,  who  in  his  effort  sank 
with  her.  He  was  rescued  by  others;  but  she  was 
lost.  Miss  Campbell  was  a  graduate  of  Western 
Female  Seminary  at  Oxford,  O.,  and  arrived  on  her 
mission  field  in  1879.  She  was  a  mo.st  earnest  and 
successful  missionary,  one  who  was  beloved  by  all 
who  knew  her,  both  in  the  mission  circle  and  among 
the  native  Christians  and  pupils  by  whom  her  loss 
will  be  severely  felt.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Rev. 
John  A.  Campbell,  of  Frankfort,  Ind.  The  circum- 
stances attending  her  drowning  are  given  by  Miss 
Mary  E.  Hartwell  in  Foreign  Missionary  for  May, 
1 8 8 1 .  — Foreign  Missionary. 


Rev.  Oren  K.  Canfield. 

Mr.  Canfield  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  but  his 
home  was  in  Morristown,  N.  J.,  where  he  was  pur- 
suing his  preparatory  and  college  studies.  He 
graduated  at  Nassau  Hall  in  1835;  spent  the  usual 
time  in  the  Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  and 
went  to  Africa  with  Mr.  Alward,  as  already  mentioned 
in  his  obituary  notice.  Dr.  J.  L.  Day,  whose  pro- 
fessional service  was  rendered  to  Mr.  Canfield  in  his 
last  illness,  said  of  him,  ''God  was  pleased  to  give 
Mr.  Canfield  strength  and  perseverance  to  overcome 


OF  THE   I50AKD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS,  5I 

all  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  erecting-  a  new  mis- 
sion station.  He  was  abundantly  inspired  with  zeal 
in  the  good  cause."  Mr.  Sawyer,  his  colleague,  wrote 
of  him,  "  He  died  on  the  7th  of  May,  1842,  at  the 
age  of  thirty-three,  after  an  illness  of  seventeen  days, 
a  peaceful  and  triumphant  death.  The  last  hours  of 
'  Brother  Canfield  were  marked  by  resignation  to  the 
will  of  God.  More  than  once  he  asked  those  attend- 
ing upon  him  if  they  had  heard  him  murmur  or  com- 
plain, and  upon  being  answered  in  the  negative,  and 
that  he  had  borne  his  sickness  very  patiently,  he  in- 
terrupted by  saying,  '  Not  unto  me,  but  all  is  to  be 
ascribed  unto  the  praise  and  glory  of  His  grace.' 
Seldom,  if  ever,  has  there  been  one  more  delighted  in 
his  work,  or  more  encouraged  with  the  prospect  in 
view;  and  no  sooner  is  it  made  manifest  unto  him 
that  his  purposes  and  desires  are  about  to  be  thwarted 
than  he  exclaims,  '  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  done.'  " 
— /.  C.  L. 

Rev.  Edward  P.  Capp. 

Mr.  Capp  left  his  station  at  Tungchow,  China,  in 
his  usual  health  to  accompany  Mrs.  Capp  and  Mrs. 
Crossette  on  their  visit  to  this  country  for  medical 
relief,  but  he  was  attacked  with  severe  illness  soon 
after  the  voyag-e  commenced,  and  when  he  reached 
Yokohama  it  was  considered  best  for  him  to  remain 
there  in  the  hope  of  benefit  from  the  change.  In  the 
family  of  Mr.  Loomis,  one  of  our  missionaries,  our 
friends  received  tender  Christian  sympathy  and  every 
ministry  of  kindness,  together  with  the  best  medical 


52  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

service;  but  all  proved  ineffectual,  and  he  was  called 
from  this  life  on  the  26th  October,  1873,  in  the  em- 
joyment  of  great  peace  to  the  end.  He  was  a  de- 
voted missionary,  fairly  entered  on  his  work  after 
many  years  of  careful  training,  and  large  hopes  were 
cherished  of  his  great  usefulness — hopes  that  will  yet 
be  fulfilled — for  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh.  Deep 
sympathy  is  felt  for  his  bereaved  wife  and  for  his 
honored  father  and  his  family  of  Philadelphia.  Mr. 
Capp  sailed  for  China  in  April,  1869. — Record^  Janu- 
ary, 1874. 

Mrs.  M.  B.  Capp. 

Mrs.  Capp,  whose  death  occurred  on  the  15th  of 
February,  1882,  at  Tungchow,  China,  has  left  a 
vacancy  in  the  mission  circle  not  easy  to  fill.  She 
entered  upon  the  mission  work  as  a  single  lady  in 
1867,  Miss  M.  J.  Brown,  but  three  or  four  years  later 
was  married  to  the  late  Rev.  Edward  P.  Capp.  Hav- 
ing become  seriously  impaired  in  health,  she  left  her 
mission  field  in  company  with  her  husband  in  1873 
on  leave  of  absence  for  medical  counsel.  Even  before 
their  steamer  left  Shanghai  her  husband  was  taken 
ill  and  continually  grew  worse  until  soon  after  reach- 
ing Yokohama  he  died,  and  the  widowed  wife  herself 
enfeebled  by  disease  was  compelled  to  pursue  her 
lonely  journey  homeward.  After  a  year  she  returned 
to  China,  chastened  by  her  sore  affliction,  where  her  in- 
fluence, like  the  perfume  of  cinished  spices,  became 
only  the  more  potent  in  opening  the  hearts  of  those 
under  her  instruction  as  a  missionary.     Hers  was  a 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS,  53 

life  of  beautiful  and  consistent  devotion.  Being  pos- 
sessed of  more  than  ordinary  intellectual  force,  with 
a  large  measure  of  common  sense  and  practical 
energy,  she  devoted  them  all  to  the  work  of  instruct- 
ing the  young  of  her  own  sex.  She  varied  the  routine 
work  of  the  school-room  by  occasional  visits  to  the 
country  villages,  where  she  labored  as  opportunity 
afforded  among  the  Chinese  women.  During  her  ill- 
ness, which  was  protracted,  she  suffered  much  from 
pain  and  weakness,  but  always  with  a  spirit  of  gentle 
resignation;  and  when  the  final  moment  arrived,  she 
rendered  up  her  account  with  joy  and  not  with  grief. 
— Foreign  Missionary^  Ju^y?  1882. 

Mrs.  M.  B.  Carleton. 

The  fact  that  our  steps  are  often  ordered  by  a  will 
higher  than  our  own  is  illustrated  in  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Carleton,  whose  preparations  had  been  made  to 
sail  for  India  about  this  time  in  company  with  her 
eldest  son,  who  goes  as  a  medical  missionary  of  the 
Board.  Thirteen  years  ago,  Mrs.  Carleton,  having 
spent  fifteen  years  as  a  missionary  in  India,  returned 
to  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  educating  her 
family  of  six  children,  leaving  her  husband  to  the 
faithful  prosecution  of  his  work  on  the  field. 

Establishing  herself  in  Amherst,  Mass.,  she 
patiently  pursued  her  purpose,  supporting  herself 
partly  by  her  own  exertions  while  she  endeavored  to 
train  her  sons  and  daughters  for  Christian  usefulness. 
With  the  exception  of  her  two  daughters,  who  have 
been   left   at   Wellesley    Female    College,    she    had 


54  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

accomplished  her  work  and  was  preparing  to  rejoin 
her  husband  after  so  long  a  separation,  taking  with 
her  one  son,  who  was  to  labor  in  the  same  mission 
and  be  able  to  perpetuate  his  father's  influence  when 
he  should  be  called  to  his  rest.  But  some  bodily  ail- 
ments intervened,  the  departure  was  delayed  and 
instead  of  the  long  ocean  voyage  came  a  summons 
to  the  land  of  peace  and  rest. 

Mrs.  Carleton  died  at  the  house  of  an  esteemed 
friend  in  Brooklyn,  November  ii,  1881,  with  little 
suffering  and  with  a  calm  and  satisfying  hope.  Her 
remains  were  taken  for  interment  to  Barre,  Vt. , 
where  she  was  born  in  1825. — Foreign  Missionary^ 
December,  1881. 

Mrs.  Wilmot  A.  Carrington. 

Mrs.  Carrington  died  at  Rio  Claro,  Brazil,  Decem- 
ber 26,  1 89 1.  She  was  ill  but  nine  days  with  a 
malignant  bilious  fever,  closely  allied  to  the  dreaded 
yellow  fever.  Referring  to  her  last  moments,  Mr. 
Carrington  writes:  ''Her  death  was  one  of  those 
blessed  in  the  Lord.  With  an  imwavering  trust  in 
her  Saviour  and  without  a  regret  that  God  had 
chosen  at  this  time  and  in  these  circumstances  to  call 
her  'home,'  with  scarcely  a  struggle  she  sweetly  fell 
asleep  in  Jesus."  Mrs.  Carrington  was  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  S.  Emory,  of  Washington, 
D.  C.  As  a  member  of  the  Gurley  Presbyterian 
Church,  of  Washington,  she  was  engaged  in  all  forms 
of  religious  activity,  and  as  a  foreign  missionary  her 
life  gave  promise  of  great  usefulness.     (She  had  been 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  55 

on  the  field  a  little  more  than  a  year.) — Church  at 
Home  and  Abroad^  May,  1892. 


Mrs.  a.  M.  Gary. 

On  September  30,  1886,  Dr.  A.  M.  Gary  and  Rev. 
D.  G.  GoUins,  and  their  wives,  sailed  for  Laos  Mis- 
sion. Mrs.  Gary  was  not  permitted  to  reach  this 
far-off  field,  but  died  of  cholera  while  on  her  way 
lip  the  Meinam  river,  midway  between  Bangkok  and 
Ghien  Mai,  January  17,  1887.  She  was  highly  com- 
mended and  greatly  mourned.  Her  afflicted  husband 
and  her  sister,  Mrs.  GoUins,  and  husband  continued 
their  journey  to  Ghien  Mai. — Annual  Report,  1887. 


Rev.  William  Glemens. 

Mr.  Glemens  was  a  native  of  Wheeling,  Va.,  a 
graduate  of  Washington  GoUege,  Pa.,  and  of 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary,  and  a  missionary 
for  nine  years  in  Gorisco,  Western  Africa.  He  was 
a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  energy,  great  warmth 
of  heart,  and  piety  the  most  sincere  and  devoted. 
Accompanied  by  his  equally  devoted  wife,  he  went 
to  Africa  in  September,  1853.  Their  health  requir- 
ing a  change  of  climate  for  a  season,  they  returned 
in  1858  to  this  country  on  a  visit,  and  went  back  to 
Gorisco  early  in  the  next  year.  Mrs.  Glemens'  health 
needing  to  be  again  recruited,  she  came  home,  leaving 
Mr.  Glemens  at  his  post  ;  but  it  became  necessary 
for  him  also  to  seek  health  again  in  his  native  land. 


56  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

On  the  voyage  he  was  taken  to  his  rest  on  the  24th 
of  June,  1862,  in  the  thirty-seventh  year  of  his  age, 
and  he  was  buried  at  sea  in  south  lat.  2°,  west  long. 
6°  27'. 

Though  compelled  to  take  furloughs  from  his 
work,  Mr.  Clemens'  missionary  life  and  labors  were 
but  very  little  marked  by  the  feebleness  of  ill  health; 
during  most  of  the  time,  his  health  was  good ;  indeed, 
so  vigorous  that  he  often  went  beyond  the  bounds 
of  prudence  in  his  work,  doing  in  Africa  what  few 
men  would  attempt  to  do  in  this  country.  This  was 
particularly  manifest  in  the  building  of  his  dwelling 
house,  in  his  journeys  to  visit  the  main-land  tribes, 
in  order  to  obtain  scholars  for  instruction  at  his  sta- 
tion in  Corisco,  and  generally  in  all  his  work.  What- 
ever he  undertook  to  do,  he  did  "with  a  will,"  with 
all  his  might.  He  was  an  earnest,  whole-hearted 
missionary.  And  his  labors  were  not  in  vain.  His 
success  in  collecting  scholars  from  several  different 
tribes,  whom  he  hoped  to  prepare  for  usefulness 
among  their  own  people,  was  indeed  remarkable  ;  to 
secure  it  he  had  to  make  difficult  and  sometimes  dan- 
gerous journeys,  remove  prejudices,  allay  fears,  and 
win  the  confidence  of  heathen  parents.  It  was  a 
cause  of  the  greatest  joy  to  him  to  see  some  of  these 
young  men  brought  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  Christ, 
and  devoting  themselves  to  his  service.  In  preach- 
ing services,  also,  and  in  translating  a  part  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  into  Benga,  Mr.  Clemens  bore  a 
full  share.  But  it  is  impossible  to  give  an  adequate 
view  of  the  character,  labors,  and  usefulness  of  this 
good  man — this  able  missionary,  in  this  brief  sketch. 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  57 

Let  it  be  ended  with  the  tribute  paid  to  his  memory 
by  his  colleague,  the  Rev.  C.  De  Heer,  who  was  a 
passenger  with  him  in  the  same  ship,  likewise  seek- 
ing the  restoration  of  health,  and  permitted  to  min- 
ister to  his  comfort  in  his  last  illness. 

"  Again  is  our  dear  mission  plunged  into  deep  sor- 
row by  the  loss  of  one  of  its  most  able  and  laborious 
members.  Answerable  to  his  high  calling  as  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  cross,  our  sainted  brother  executed 
his  office  in  season  and  out  of  season;  indeed,  by 
night  and  by  day,  on  the  land  and  on  the  sea,  the 
mountain  top  and  the  valley,  the  chapel,  as  well  as 
the  poor  African  hut ;  in  short,  he  was  the  missionary 
everywhere.  It  was  for  Africa,  long  despised  and 
neglected  Africa,  that  his  noble  Christian  heart  bled. 
Honored  with  the  privilege  of  becoming  a  servant  to 
*  the  servant  of  servants,'  he  sacrificed  his  all  to  win 
them  to  Christ.  To  be  the  means  of  educating  these 
outcasts  of  the  earth,  he  took  his  life  in  his  hand  and 
went  forward  from  tribe  to  tribe,  planting  the  stan- 
dard of  the  cross,  proclaiming  peace  through  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  liberty  to  the  captives." — /.  C.  L. 

Rev.  John  Cloud. 

Mr.  Cloud  was  born  and  brought  up  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  but  no  information  has  been  received 
of  his  early  life.  He  graduated  at  Jefferson  College, 
studied  theology  at  the  Allegheny  Seminary,  reached 
Africa  as  a  missionary  December  31,  1833,  and  died 
in  April,  1834.  He  was  a  man  of  ardent  tempera- 
ment, which  led  him  against  the  counsels  of  his  col- 


58  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

leagues  to  undertake  for  missionary  exploration  a 
journey  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  on  foot 
before  he  had  fully  recovered  from  sickness.  The 
unavoidable  exposure  and  fatigue  of  the  journey 
prostrated  his  strength  and  brought  on  an  attack 
of  dysentery  under  which  he  sank  in  a  few  days. 
He  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  loving  heart,  gener- 
ous impulses,  respectable  talents  and  the  sincerest 
piety.      His  age  was  about  thirty. — J,  C.  L. 

Rev.  Joseph  G.  Cochran. 

The  Rev.  Benjamin  Labaree,  writing  at  Oroomiah, 
December  4,  187 1,  sends  the  following  obituary 
sketch  of  his  lamented  co-laborer,  who  died  Novem- 
ber 2,  187 1,  aged  fifty-seven  years.  It  will  be  read 
with  great  interest,  and  will  confirm  the  impression 
that  one  of  the  best  missionaries  has  been  called  to 
rest  from  his  labors,  and  also  that  these  labors  were 
eminently  earnest  and  successful.  The  grace  of  God 
is  magnified  in  the  life,  the  work,  and  the  death  of 
this  devoted  missionary.  May  his  example  be  kept 
in  view  by  all  connected  with  the  work  of  Christian 
missions ! 

Previous  letters  have  informed  you  of  the  sad 
providence  which  has  bereaved  us  of  our  oldest  as- 
sociate in  the  missionary  work,  the  Rev.  J.  G. 
Cochran. 

For  twenty-three  years  he  has  taken  a  most  active 
part  in  the  mission  work  among  the  Nestorians.  He 
brought  to  it  unusual  energy  of  character,  that  has 
left  its  impress  upon  every  department  of  labor  in  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  $9 

field.  His  principal  service  has  been  in  connection 
with  the  Male  Seminary  in  the  training  up  of  a 
native  ministry.  It  was  a  work  to  call  out  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  his  ardent  nature,  and  one  to  which  he 
had  devoted  himself  most  laboriously  and  faithfully 
year  after  year  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century.  At 
first  he  was  associated  with  Mr.  Stoddard,  but  after 
his  death,  the  whole  responsibility  of  the  institution 
devolved  upon  him  alone.  The  fruits  of  his  labors 
in  this  department  are  the  living  men  who  are  scat- 
tered far  and  wide  in  Persia  and  Koordistan,  repro- 
ducing the  evangelical  teachings  of  their  devoted  in- 
structor both  in  their  lives  and  doctrines. 

But  his  labors  were  by  no  means  confined  to  in- 
struction in  the  seminary.  He  took  an  active  in- 
terest in  every  department  of  the  missionary  work. 
In  connection  with  his  seminary  duties  he  was  com- 
monly engaged  in  the  preparation  of  some  text-book 
or  other  work  for  the  press.  When  not  confined  by 
the  seminary,  no  one  was  more  enterprising  in  visit- 
ing the  villages.  At  all  seasons  and  in  all  weathers 
he  was  abroad  on  his  tours  of  preaching  and  general 
superintendence — tours  the  most  widely  extended 
and  fatiguing.  During  the  two  last  winters  especially 
(the  seminary  not  being  in  session),  he  had  given 
himself  with  the  greatest  devotion  to  spiritual  labors 
among  the  villages,  and  with  most  cheering  evi- 
dences, in  several  places,  of  the  Spirit's  blessing  on 
his  labors. 

Equally  with  the  spiritual  growth  of  the  churches, 
it  was  the  desire  of  our  brother  to  see  a  more  com- 
plete and  formal  separation  of  the  evangelical  Nesto- 


6o  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

rians  from  the  old  Church — a  more  thorough  sunder- 
ing of  every  tie  which  linked  the  Reformed  Church 
with  the  corrupt  and  effete  system  out  of  which  it  had 
gradually  emerged. 

To  build  up  a  Church  untrammeled  with  any  rem- 
nants of  a  hierarchy  or  of  superstition,  organized  for 
self-direction  and  self-support,  was  the  aim  of  his 
missionary  life,  to  which  he  gave  himself  with  pecu- 
liar earnestness  in  his  later  years.  He  was  permitted 
to  see  most  decided  progress  in  this  respect.  But  the 
year  before  he  finished  his  labors  among  them,  the 
native  churches,  under  his  lead,  made  a  new  declara- 
tion that  placed  them  in  an  attitude  of  more  com- 
plete independence.  In  the  matter  of  self-support, 
too,  they  manifest  an  encouraging  disposition  to  go 
forward.  It  was  a  glad  occasion  to  our  brother  last 
winter  when,  after  a  long  session  of  several  hours, 
with  one  of  our  native  churches,  in  his  efforts  to 
bring  its  members  to  united  action,  they  voted  to  as- 
sume the  whole  support  of  their  pastor  for  the  cur- 
rent year.  It  was  the  first  instance  of  such  action, 
and  seemed  to  him  the  harbinger  of  better  times. 

The  past  year  of  Mr.  Cochran's  missionary  life  was 
one  of  peculiar  trial,  as  it  was  one  of  severe  toil. 
His  whole  family  had  been  called  home  to  America, 
w^hile  the  exigencies  of  the  missionary  work  con- 
strained him  to  remain  at  his  post.  This  trial  of 
separation,  with  the  anxiety  added  to  the  heavy  cares 
that  devolved  upon  him  in  the  field,  caused  a  severe 
draught  upon  his  mental  and  physical  system.  Un- 
fettered by  what  some  are  pleased  to  call  the  Jiiii- 
drances  of  family  claims,  his  natural  energy  and  his 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  6 1 

zeal  for  the  cause  led  him  to  go  to  the  full  limits  of 
his  strength,  and,  as  we  see  now,  even  beyond  it,  in 
a  diversity  of  duties.  While  the  seminary  was  in 
session  in  the  summer,  he  regularly  gave  from  two 
to  three  hours  to  instruction,  besides  the  general 
oversight  of  the  institution,  and  occasional  special 
lectures  and  religious  services.  Every  week  he  rode 
to  villages  more  or  less  distant,  holding  a  meeting  on 
Saturday  with  the  helpers  of  different  districts,  giv- 
ing them  instruction  in  homiletics,  the  bare  prepara- 
tion for  which  was  a  mighty  duty.  The  Sabbaths 
were  spent  in  preaching,  and  in  attending  to  any  par- 
ticular matters  in  the  churches  demanding  the  mis- 
sionary's consideration.  On  Monday  he  returned  to 
his  seminary  studies.  His  associates  remonstrated 
against  such  an  uninterrupted  course  of  exhausting 
labors.  The  checks  and  diversions  of  his  own  family 
alone  could  have  restrained  him  from  this  severe 
strain  upon  all  his  powers. 

In  the  midsummer  he  suspended  his  duties  at  the 
station,  and  made  a  rapid  journey  to  Constantinople, 
to  meet  a  part  of  his  family  (Mrs.  Cochran  and  two 
daughters)  returning  to  Oroomiah,  accompanied  by 
a  considerable  reinforcement  of  new  missionaries. 
With  scarcely  any  delay  at  Constantinople,  and  with 
no  rest  in  fact,  he  started  back,  urgent  to  complete 
the  toilsome  land  journey  before  the  cold  weather 
should  set  in.  The  conducting  of  so  large  a  party, 
with  insufficient  help,  was  a  responsibility  that  rested 
heavily  upon  him,  and  wore  severely  upon  his  already 
strained  nerves. 

Symptoms  of  fever  appeared  a  day  or  two  before 


02  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

his  arrival  in  Oroomiah,  and  as  soon  as  the  first  ex- 
citement of  reaching  us  was  over,  he  took  to  his  bed 
with  what  proved  to  be  typhoid  fever.  In  just  a  fort- 
night after  his  arrival  the  disease  did  its  work,  and  he 
rested  from  his  earthly  labors. 

When  first  made  aware  that  his  disease  was  proba- 
bly the  so  often  fatal  typhoid  fever,  he  was  deeply 
exercised.  The  possible  issue  of  the  disease  was 
forced  upon  his  thoughts.  On  the  one  hand,  he 
clung  tenaciously  to  life,  and  on  the  other,  a  sense  of 
his  sins  burdened  him  and  made  him  shrink  from 
dying.  But  the  struggle  was  only  a  short  one.  A 
joyous  assurance  of  complete  acceptance  with  Christ 
took  possession  of  his  soul.  He  called  his  wife  and 
daughters  about  him,  and  spoke  to  them  freely  and 
calmly  of  their  future  in  case  he  should  be  taken 
away,  leading  them  several  times  in  prayer,  and  ask- 
ing for  different  hymns  to  be  sung. 

From  that  time  on,  he  was  himself  only  at  intervals, 
but  whenever  his  attention  was  arrested,  his  mind 
was  clear  and  full  of  assurance  of  pardon.  At  one 
time  a  verse  of  a  hymn  was  repeated,  when  he  im- 
mediately responded,  reciting  two  verses  of  the  hymn 
''  Majestic  sweetness,"  etc.  At  another  time  he  was 
asked  if  Jesus  was  near.  He  replied,  "Yes."  And  then 
rousing  still  more,  he  said  with  much  effort,  but  with 
peculiar  emphasis,  "Yes,  yes,  I  do  believe  my  sins  are 
all  forgiven."  In  answer  to  other  questions,  he  ex- 
pressed a  preference  for  many  reasons  to  live,  particu- 
larly that  he  might  begin  a  more  consecrated  life,  to 
live  which  he  felt  that  the  Saviour  had  communicated 
to  him  a  new  and  higher  degree  of  power  and  grace. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  63 

In  the  first  stage  of  his  delirium  his  mind  labored 
with  the  cares  of  the  recent  journey,  but  subsequently 
he  was  for  days  almost  wholly  absorbed  in  the  pros- 
pective meeting  of  the  preachers  and  delegates  of 
the  native  churches.  (It  had  been  appointed  to  take 
place  the  day  on  which  he  died.)  He  often  seemed 
to  be  addressing  the  brethren,  but  the  only  words 
really  intelligible  were,  ''Go  forward ;"  and  at  another 
time,  not  long  before  he  died,  "The  subjects  are  ex- 
hausted ;  in  the  morning  we  may  disperse. "  Thus  in 
his  last  hours  his  distracted  brain  betrayed  the  deep 
hold  the  prosperity  of  these  Nestorian  churches  had 
upon  his  soul. 

Numbers  of  the  native  preachers,  his  pupils,  had 
gathered  to  attend  the  meeting  alluded  to,  unin- 
formed of  the  threatening  nature  of  his  illness. 
Several  of  the  more  prominent  ones  acted  as  bearers. 
At  the  funeral  not  a  few  gave  expression  to  their 
sincere  grief,  and  paid  most  appropriate  tribute  to 
the  devotion  and  faithfulness  with  which  their  in- 
structor had  labored  to  bring  them  to  Christ,  and 
afterwards  to  make  them  skillful  preachers  of  his 
word. — Record^  May,  1872. 

Mrs.  Deborah  Plumb  Cochran. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  D.  P.  Cochran  on  the  9th  of 
March,  1893,  at  Oroomiah  removes  a  venerable  land- 
mark in  the  mission  to  Persia.  She  left  the  United 
States  with  her  husband,  Rev.  Joseph  G.  Cochran, 
for  missionary  labors  among  the  Nestorians  in  1847. 
Thus  for  more  than  forty-five  years    she  has  been 


64  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

identified  with  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  in  that 
land.  Her  arrival  there  antedates  that  of  any  other 
missionary  at  present  connected  with  the  mission,  by 
more  than  twelve  years.  To  those  now  in  the  field 
she  was  a  link  with  the  pioneers  of  that  mission,  held 
in  high  esteem  and  affection. 

But  Mrs.  Cochran's  life  for  this  nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury of  missionary  service  is  memorable  in  other  re- 
spects than  its  long  duration.  It  was  eminent  as 
well  for  the  choice  qualities  of  Christian  character 
she  brought  to  it,  and  for  the  untiring  devotion  with 
which  she  was  ready  to  spend  and  be  spent  in  behalf 
of  the  people  she  sought  to  win  to  Christ.  If  there 
has  ever  been  a  missionary  whom  the  Nestorians  re- 
vered and  loved  it  was  this  devoted  woman.  She  was 
known  among  them  as  one  who,  for  the  love  of  Christ, 
was  willing  to  share  the  best  she  had,  and  almost  the 
very  last,  with  the  needy  and  distressed.  And  though 
her  patience  was  often  sorely  tried  by  thoughtless 
and  ungrateful  recipients  of  her  kindness,  neither 
patience  nor  kindness  ever  seemed  exhausted. 

During  her  husband's  life  she  was  his  efficient  coad- 
jutor in  the  oversight  of  the  school  of  the  youthful 
prophets  under  his  charge  at  Seir.  The  tender  moth- 
erly interest  and  love  she  bestowed  upon  the  wild  rough 
boys  who,  in  early  times  especially,  gathered  there, 
were  a  potent  influence  in  the  make-up  of  their  char- 
acters which  has  made  very  many  of  them  preachers 
and  teachers  of  eminent  usefulness.  And  in  the 
summer  touring  of  her  husband  in  the  villages,  with 
all  the  hazards  and  discomforts  attending  it,  she 
bravely  went  with  him,  taking  her  flock  of  little  ones 


OF   THE   150ARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  65 

with  her.  Here,  too,  her  sweet  and  gentle  manners, 
her  courtesy  to  the  humblest  peasant,  her  dignity  on 
all  occasions,  a  quality  highly  appreciated  among 
Orientals,  together  with  the  order  and  propriety  of 
her  model  Christian  family  went  far  to  win  attention 
and  esteem  for  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  urged  by  the 
missionary  preacher. 

After  the  lamented  death  of  Mr.  Cochran,  Mrs. 
Cochran  chose  to  remain  in  the  missionary  work,  and 
has  been  a  much  valued  coworker  in  many  lines. 
For  the  last  ten  or  more  years  she  has  been  the 
matron  of  the  Westminster  Hospital,  under  the  care 
of  her  son,  Dr.  J.  P.  Cochran.  This  institution  has 
earned  a  high  reputation.  It  has  had  phenomenal 
success.  And  it  is  no  detraction  from  the  honors  due 
the  eminently  skillful  physician  and  surgeon  in  charge 
to  credit  part  of  its  high  achievements  to  the  matron's 
most  assiduous  and  competent  cooperation.  To  the 
inmates  of  the  hospital  she  was  an  angel  of  light  and 
comfort,  caring  for  their  wants  with,  to  them,  un- 
heard-of thoughtfulness  and  with  a  tenderness  of 
manner  that  in  itself  carried  healing  to  their  diseased 
bodies.  She  was  ever  watchful,  too,  that  the  patients 
in  the  institution  should  have  their  thoughts  directed 
to  Christ  as  the  Great  Physician,  reading  to  them  her- 
self very  frequently  from  the  Bible,  or  setting  others 
to  read  to  them  in  the  different  languages  called  for. 
Many  are  the  Mohammedans  who  have  entered  there 
for  treatment  with  reluctance,  from  their  contempt 
and  hate  for  the  Christians,  who  have  gone  out  with 
greatly  softened  prejudices  and  a  new  and  hopeful  in- 
terest in  the  Christian's  Saviour. 


66  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

In  January  Mrs.  Cochran  had  a  stroke  of  paralysis, 
and  two  months  after  she  sweetly  entered  into  rest. 

Appropriate  services  were  conducted  in  her  memory 
and  many  feeling  addresses  were  made  by  leading- 
men  among  the  Nestorians,  with  whose  school-day 
life  and  early  spiritual  history  Mrs.  Cochran  was 
affectionately  associated.  When  the  remains  were  to 
be  borne  from  the  college  chapel  to  the  conveyance 
which  was  to  carry  them  to  the  little  missionary 
cemetery  at  Seir,  several  of  the  old  pastors  and  other 
graduates  of  the  school  claimed  the  privilege  of  bear- 
ing the  casket  themselves,  as  a  parting,  token  of  their 
esteem  and  affection.  It  was  such  an  honor  as  they 
bestow  on  their  bishops  in  the  old  church  or  on  other 
distinguished  men  in  the  nation.  Long  will  the 
memory  of  this  devoted  woman  remain  among  the 
people  to  whom  she  has  ministered  in  the  Saviour's 
name  ;  and  who  can  estimate  the  influence  of  her 
shining  character  upon  the  generations  to  come,  as 
it  diffuses  itself  downward  from  age  to  age? — B. 
Labaree  D.D.^  CImrch  at  Home  and  Abroad,  June, 
1893. 

Mrs.  Laura  Condit. 

Mrs.  Condit,  wife  of  Rev.  Ira  M.  Condit,  of  the  Mis- 
sion in  China,  died  December  5,  1866.  She  was 
qualified  for  usefulness  in  a  high  degree  and  was 
devoted  to  her  Lord's  work,  so  that  her  removal  was 
one  of  the  mysteries  of  Providence.  She  was  kept 
in  perfect  peace  in  her  last  illness. — Aiuiual  Report , 
1867. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  6/ 

Mrs.  Hunter  Corbett. 

Mrs.  Corbett,  wife  of  Rev.  Hunter  Corbett,  of 
Chefoo,  China,  died  March  lo,  1873,  after  a  pro- 
tracted illness  of  nearly  six  months,  in  which  she 
had  experienced  great  suffering,  but  had  displayed  a 
rare  patience  inspired  by  the  grace  of  God.  Even 
to  the  last  she  offered  the  fervent  and  effectual 
prayer  of  the  righteous  for  the  Divine  blessing  upon 
the  mission  work. 

Miss  C.  B.  Browning  writes:  "  Last  Sunday  even- 
ing, after  a  few  hours  of  nervous  restlessness,  she 
slept.  We  hoped  she  would  awaken  refreshed ;  but 
she  slept  on  until  nearly  five  o'clock  Monday  morn- 
ing, when  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan  she  awoke  in 
heaven.  She  said  to  me  only  a  day  or  two  before : 
'  How  nice  it  would  be  just  to  go  to  sleep  and  wake 
up  at  home  safe  on  the  other  side.'  She  had  her 
wish,  for  so  God  took  her  home.  Sunday  evening 
she  said  to  her  husband :  '  I  love  you  truly,  but  I 
love  Jesus  more.'  To  the  doctor  she  said,  '  It  is  all 
right'" — Annual  Report^  1874,  and  Record^  July, 
1873- 

Mrs.  Hunter  Corbett  (2d), 

Many  hearts  in  all  parts  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  will  sympathize  with  the  Rev.  Hunter  Cor- 
bett, D.D.,  in  the  great  loss  to  which  he  has  been 
called  by  the  decease  of  his  beloved  wife  and  com- 
panion in  missionary  labor.  Mrs.  Corbett  was 
attacked  in  the  month  of  August  (1888)  with  malarial 


63  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

fever,  which  continued  its  course  persistently  for 
twenty-five  days.  She,  however,  rallied  and  had 
been  able  to  leave  her  bed  with  every  prospect  of 
recovery.  Accordingly  on  the  morning  of  3d  of  Octo- 
ber Dr.  Corbett  started  for  the  country  for  his  autum- 
nal tour  among  the  churches,  accompanied  by  Rev. 
Thomas  Marshall,  of  St.  Louis,  his  convalescent  wife 
being  left  in  the  competent  care  of  a  trained  nurse. 
A  relapse  occurred  soon  after  he  left,  and  on  the  7  th 
of  October,  four  days  after  his  departure,  Mrs.  Corbett 
was  called  to  her  rest.  The  bitter  tidings  were  sent 
to  Dr.  Corbett  by  a  special  messenger,  who  reached 
him  150  miles  in  the  interior. 

The  eulogium  of  Mrs.  Corbett,  like  that  of  Dorcas 
in  the  New  Testament  times,  is  written  in  the  hearts 
of  the  whole  community.  "It  is  touching,"  says  a 
recent  letter,  "to  see  the  sorrow  and  tears  of  our 
native  Christians  and  school  children.  Not  a  few  of 
the  heathen  mothers  in  whose  homes  Mrs.  Corbett  had 
visited  or  whom  she  had  helped  in  sickness  or  poverty 
have  been  deeply  moved.  Several  inquired  of  one  of 
our  elders  if  they  would  be  allowed  to  show  their  sor- 
row by  going  to  her  grave  to  weep  and  burn  incense. 
Her  end  was  peace,  all  fear  of  death  had  passed 
away." 

One  can  well  understand  how  the  hearts  of  those 
who  know  not  the  blessed  life  of  the  Resurrection  or 
the  assurance,  ' '  This  day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in 
paradise,"  should  wish  to  burn  incense  over  such  a 
grave.  There  is  something  pathetic  in  the  groping 
of  heathen  minds  and  hearts  which  have  been 
touched  by  that  which  needs  no  translation  into  any 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  69 

language — the  ministry  of  kindness  and  Christ-like 
love — which  speaks  from  heart  to  heart.  This  had 
spoken  out  in  Mrs.  Corbett's  missionary  life  even  to 
the  heathen  and  they  had  felt  its  power.  Not  less 
deep  and  heartfelt  than  this  grief  of  heathen  mothers 
will,  be  that  of  all  who  knew  Mrs.  Corbett,  whether 
in  the  mission  circle  or  among  her  acquaintances  in 
this  country. — Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^  Janu- 
ary, 1889. 

Rev.  Edward  and  Mrs.  Alida  Cornes. 

Mr.  Comes  was  a  graduate  of  McCormick  Semi- 
nary, and  with  his  wife  arrived  in  Yokohama  in  June, 
1868.  The  simultaneous  death  of  both  with  their 
eldest  child  on  ist  of  August,  1870,  is  thus  reported 
by  Dr.  J.  C.  Hepburn  : 

' '  The  telegram  will  doubtless  convey  to  you  the 
sad  news  of  the  death  of  our  brother  Cornes,  his  wife 
and  their  eldest  son,  Edward.  It  occurred  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  ist  of  August.  They  had  taken 
passage  in  a  small  steamer — City  of  Ycdo — which  plied 
daily  between  this  place  and  Yedo,  and  just  as  the 
boat  was  leaving  the  wharf  the  boiler  exploded,  kill- 
ing instantly  our  three  friends.  Their  httle  infant  of 
about  three  months  old  was  asleep  in  the  cabin, 
lying  on  the  transom,  and  escaped  with  only  both 
hands  badly  scalded.  The  infant  is  with  us— we  have 
taken  it  as  our  own  child  if  Mr.  Cornes'  friends  in  the 
United  States  consent ;  if  not  we  shall  send  it  to  them 
when  it  is  large  enough  to  go.  Its  hands  are  rapidly 
improving  and  will  heal  without  deformity  I  think." 


70  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Mr.  Cornes  was  much  liked  in  the  Japanese  school 
where  he  was  laboring  and  bade  fair  to  be  a  very  use- 
ful man.  The  government  officers  connected  with 
the  Board  of  Education  have  presented  his  estate — the 
infant — with  $800  as  a  tribute  of  their  esteem  for 
him  and  sorrow  at  his  loss.  He  had  made  very  re- 
spectable progress  in  the  language  and  was  looking 
forward  with  much  hope  to  being  engaged  more 
directly  at  some  day  soon  in  his  peculiar  missionary 
duties.  He  always  regarded  his  connection  with  the 
school  merely  as  a  temporary  matter  which  he  would 
be  glad  to  lay  aside  for  the  work  of  preaching  the 
Gospel.  We  mourn  our  loss  and  the  loss  of  the  mis- 
sionary work  in  this  country. — Record^  November, 
1870. 

Mr.  M.  S.  Coulter. 

Moses  Stanley  Coulter  was  born  on  the  30th  of  May, 
1824,  in  Brooke  county,  Virginia.  From  this  place 
he  removed,  with  his  parents,  to  the  State  of  Illinois, 
where  he  afterwards  resided.  In  the  sixteenth  year 
of  his  age,  he  experienced,  as  he  hoped,  a  change  of 
heart,  and  publicly  professed  his  faith  in  Christ. 

With  a  view  to  preparation  for  the  work  of  the  min- 
istry, he  entered  Hanover  College,  Indiana,  in  May, 
1844.  He  was  here  a  diligent  and  successful  student, 
and  stood  high  in  point  of  scholarship,  while  his 
Christian  deportment  and  attention  to  his  college 
duties  secured  to  him  the  esteem  and  affection  of  his 
teachers  and  associates.  He  was  graduated  with  his 
class  on  the  19th  July,  1848. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  7 1 

About  this  time  he  was  requested  to  take  cliar^^e  of 
the  printing  press  at  Ningpo,  and  after  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  question  of  duty,  he  accepted  this 
appointment.  In  February,  1849,  he  embarked  for 
China  with  his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Crowe.  They  arrived  at  Ningpo  on  the  24th  of 
August.  The  Rev.  Aug.  W.  Loomis,  who  for  some 
time  had  charge  of  the  printing  office,  was  just  at  this 
time  on  the  point  of  returning  to  the  United  States, 
on  account  of  the  failure  of  his  health.  Mr.  Coulter 
was  therefore  called  to  enter  immediately  upon  the 
duties  of  this  responsible  situation. 

Mr.  Coulter,  soon  after  his  arrival,  placed  himself 
under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ningpo,  as  a  can- 
didate, with  a  view  to  pursuing  his  studies  preparatory 
to  the  work  of  the  ministry,  to  which  he  felt  himself 
called.  At  the  same  time  he  did  not  neglect  the  im- 
portant work  of  learning  the  language  in  which  he 
hoped  to  preach. 

Mr.  Coulter,  however,  possessed  other  qualifications 
which  rendered  him  a  most  valuable  member  of  the 
mission.  He  possessed  a  sound  and  sober  judgment, 
but  was  ready  cheerfully  to  yield  to  that  of  a  majority 
of  his  associates  when  it  happened  to  differ  from  his 
own.  His  modest  and  retiring  disposition,  his  strong 
attachment  to  his  friends,  his  uniform  gentleness  and 
kindness,  endeared  him  to  his  associates,  and,  together 
with  his  unostentatious  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
Christ,  exerted  a  healthy  influence  in  the  circle  of  his 
acquaintance.  He  secured,  also,  a  large  share  in  the 
respect  and  affection  of  the  Chinese  with  whom  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  intercourse. 


72  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

When  Mr.  Coulter  first  arrived  at  Ningpo,  his  fine 
manly  form,  and  apparent  strength  of  frame,  seemed 
to  promise  a  long  period  of  labor  in  the  work  upon 
which  he  was  entering.  This  hope,  alas,  was  too 
soon  to  be  disappointed.  He  was  repeatedly  attacked 
by  disease  attributable  to  the  climate,  recovering 
health,  and  resuming  his  work,  until  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer  of  1852,  he  was  taken  with  sick- 
ness, which  eventually  proved  fatal. 

On  the  night  of  Friday,  the  loth  of  December,  a 
change  occurred,  of  which  he  was  conscious,  and 
which  he  himself  was  the  first  to  announce.  On 
Saturday,  it  was  evident  to  all  that  the  time  of  his 
departure  was  at  hand.  Many  friends  called  to  bid 
a  last  farewell.  Occasionally  his  mind  wandered, 
and  for  a  time,  while  in  this  half-unconscious  state, 
Satan  seemed  permitted  to  assail  him.  But  his  feet 
were  upon  the  rock,  and  the  adversary,  though  per- 
mitted to  buffet,  could  not  prevail  against  him.  The 
clouds  passed  away  and  he  expressed  his  confidence 
in  the  Saviour  of  sinners. 

That  was  a  gloomy  day.  In  the  morning  an  eclipse 
of  the  sun,  nearly  total,  darkened  the  heavens  and 
spread  dismay  among  the  heathen  around  who  sought 
by  dismal  sounds  to  avert  the  catastrophe  they 
dreaded.  More  sublime  than  the  spectacle  in  the 
heavens  was  that  of  the  soul  of  our  brother  struggling 
in  the  agonies  of  death,  or  rather  triinnphing  over 
death,  yielding  to  his  grasp  for  a  moment,  but  only  to 
mount  up  swiftly  to  those  happy  mansions  which 
death  can  never  enter.  As  the  sun  soon  again  re- 
sumed his  wonted  splendor,  so  it  was  felt,  the  soul 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  73 

then  passing  through  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death  would  soon  be  basking  in  the  bright  beams 
of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness,  never  again  to  experience 
the  hidings  of  his  face.  At  three  o'clock  on  Sabbath 
morning  the  12th  of  December,  1852,  his  spirit  took 
its  flight  and  passed,  as  we  cannot  doubt,  to  "brighter 
worlds  on  high. " — J.  C.  L, 

Mr.  James  Craig. 

Mr.  Craig  joined  the  Lodiana  Mission  as  teacher  in 
1838  and  died  August  16,  1845,  in  the  forty-sixth 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Reformed 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and  was  sent  to 
India  by  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 
In  the  Missionary  Chronicle  of  February,  1846,  there 
is  a  warm  tribute  to  his  memory  by  Rev.  James  R. 
Campbell,  D,  D. ,  who  thus  refers  to  his  closing  hours : 
* '  About  midnight  he  awoke  out  of  a  long  sleep,  and 
supposing  that  his  end  was  near,  he  formally  in  prayer 
commended  his  wife  and  children  to  the  Lord.  About 
four  o'clock  he  was  asked  if  Christ  w^as  precious  now, 
and  never  can  we  forget  the  expression  of  his  counte- 
nance and  the  heavenly  joy  that  seemed  to  spread 
over  his  face  as  an  index  of  that  ecstasy  that  filled  his 
enraptured  soul.  He  then  gave  the  last  parting 
grasp  of  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Craig,  gradually  lost  all 
consciousness  of  external  things  and  sweetly  and 
calmly  without  a  struggle  took  his  departure  for  a 
world  of  endless  and  unspeakable  happiness.  Mark 
the  perfect  man  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end 
of  that  man  is  peace." — J.  C.  L. 


74  NECROLOGTCAL    RECORD 

Miss  Margaret  A.  Craig. 

The  death  of  Miss  Craig  is  reported  from  the 
Lodiana  Mission  on  the  15th  of  September,  1890. 
She  was  the  daughter  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  James  Craig, 
of  Philadelphia,  who  were  in  India  from  1838  to  1845, 
he  being  a  teacher,  and  where  he  died.  Miss  Craig 
went  to  that  country  in  1870.  Her  illness  was  pro- 
tracted and  marked  with  great  suffering  calling  forth 
much  sympathy.  Rev.  R.  Morrison  in  writing  of  her 
departure  speaks  warmly  of  her  usefulness  in  her  mis- 
sionary life. — Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^  Decem- 
ber, 1890. 

Mrs.  Ida  D.  Cranskaw. 

Mrs.  Cranshaw,  of  the  Liberia  Mission,  was  called 
to  her  rest  on  the  29th  of  January,  1891.  Though 
not  many  years  connected  with  the  mission,  yet  her 
consecration,  efficiency  and  success  in  the  school  at 
Warney,  near  Greenville,  were  remarkable,  so  that 
her  early  death  is  a  serious  loss  to  our  work,  though 
doubtless  great  gain  to  her. — Annual  Report^  1891. 


Rev.  J.  Fisher  Crossett. 

The  State  Department  at  Washington  has  received 
from  the  American  legation  at  Pekin  a  report  of  the 
death  of  this  earnest  and  devoted  man,  who  died 
June  21,  1889,  on  board  a  steamer  bound  from 
Shangh'ai  to  Tientsin.  Mr.  Crossett  was  for  a  number 
of  years  a  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  75 

was  looked  upon  by  the  Chinese  with  something 
approaching-  worship,  owing-  to  his  great  simphcity 
of  character  and  his  complete  devotion  to  his  work. 
Faihng  somewhat  in  health,  he  became  the  subject 
of  partial  mental  aberration,  his  mind  taking  the 
direction  of  intense  selt-exaction  and  a  morbidly  sen- 
sitive conscience.  He  withdrew  from  the  mission, 
and  was  sent  home  with  a  hope  of  restoration  to 
health.  His  mental  balance  was  partially  restored, 
but  his  great  eccentricity  rendered  it  necessary  that 
he  should  work  upon  his  own  lines  and  should  reject 
anything  like  regular  support.  He  even  went  so  far 
as  to  restore  to  the  Board  considerable  amounts  of 
what  he  had  already  received,  which  amounts,  how- 
ever, were  handed  over  to  his  wife,  who,  left  entirely 
without  support  from  him,  was  greatly  in  need  of  it. 
The  impossible  conditions  in  which  Mr.  Crossett 
lived  rendered  it  absolutely  necessary  that  he  should 
live  alone,  and  many  times  he  has  been  rescued  by 
brother  missionaries  from  extreme  suffering  and  pri- 
vation. His  influence  over  the  Chinese  would  have 
been  great  in  any  case  as  a  simple  result  of  his  devo- 
tion to  their  welfare  ;  but  to  the  Oriental  mind  any- 
thing that  is  morbid  and  savors  of  ascetic  rigor  comes 
to  be  regarded  as  well-nigh  superhuman,  and  elicits 
a  respect  bordering  on  worship. 

So  far  as  we  know,  all  the  missionaries  in  Pekin, 
whether  of  our  own  or  other  Boards,  have  sympa- 
thized with  Mr.  Crossett  in  his  work.  While  they 
could  not  share  his  views  or  his  methods,  they  have 
held  themselves  ready  at  all  times  to  aid  him  as  far 
as  possible.     All  men  who  have  known  him,  native 


76  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

or  foreign,  will  mourn  the  loss  of  one  of  the  noblest 
and  most  self-sacrificing  men  of  his  time,  and  will 
sympathize  deeply  with  his  wife,  who  while  utterly 
unable,  after  various  attempts,  to  accompany  her 
husband  in  his  peculiar  work,  has  continually  cher- 
ished him  in  her  heart  and  sustained  him  by  her 
earnest  prayers. 

We  gladly  append  the  tribute  which  our  American 
minister,  Mr.  Denby,  has  sent  to  the  department  at 
Washington  : 

''Mr.  Crossett's  life  was  devoted  to  doing  good  to 
the  poorest  classes  of  Chinese.  He  had  charge  of  a 
winter  refuge  for  the  poor  at  Pekin  during  several 
winters.  He  would  go  out  on  the  streets  the  coldest 
nights  and  pick  up  destitute  beggars  and  convey 
them  to  the  refuge,  where  he  provided  them  with 
food.  He  also  buried  them  at  his  own  expense.  He 
visited  all  the  prisons,  and  often  procured  the  privi- 
lege of  removing  the  sick  to  his  refuge.  The  officials 
had  implicit  confidence  in  him,  and  allowed  him  to 
visit  at  pleasure  all  the  prisons  and  charitable  institu- 
tions. He  was  known  by  the  Chinese  as  the  "Chris- 
tian Buddha."  He  was  attached  to  no  organization 
of  men.  He  was  a  missionary  pure  and  simple, 
devoted  rather  to  charity  than  proselytism.  He  lit- 
erally took  Christ  as  his  exemplar.  He  traveled  all 
over  China  and  the  East.  He  took  no  care  for  his 
expenses.  Food  and  lodging  were  voluntarily  fur- 
nished him.  Inn-keepers  would  take  no  pay  from 
him,  and  private  persons  were  glad  to  entertain  him. 
It  must  be  said  that  his  wants  were  few.  He  wore 
the  Chinese  dress,  had  no  regular  meals,  drank  only 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  ']'] 

water,  and  lived  on  fruit,  with  a  little  rice  or  millet. 
He  aimed  at  translating  his  ideal,  Christ,  into  reality. 
He  wore  long  auburn  hair,  parted  in  the  middle,  so 
as  to  resemble  the  pictures  of  Christ.  Charitable 
people  furnished  him  money  for  his  refuge,  and  he 
never  seemed  to  want  for  funds.  He  slept  on  a 
board  or  on  the  floor.  Even  in  his  last  hours,  being 
a  deck  passenger  on  the  El  Dorado^  he  refused  to  be 
transferred  to  the  cabin,  but  the  kindly  captain,  some 
hours  before  he  died,  removed  him  to  a  berth,  where 
he  died,  still  speaking  of  going  to  heaven,  and 
entreating  the  bystanders  to  love  the  Lord. 

''This  man  taught  the  pure  love  of  God  and  good- 
ness. He  completely  sacrificed  himself  for  the  good 
of  the  poorest  of  the  poor.  He  acted  out  his  princi- 
ples to  the  letter.  He  was  as  poor  and  lived  as  plainly 
as  the  poorest  of  his  patients.  On  charitable  subjects 
he  wrote  well.  The  ideal  to  him  was  practical.  Let 
this  American  then  be  enshrined  in  the  annals  of 
men  who  loved  their  fellow-men." 

[Mr.  Crossett  was  one  of  my  most  beloved  pupils 
in  Lane  Seminary.  He  was  a  good  man. — H.A.N.] 
— ChiircJi  at  Home  and  Abroad^  October,  1889. 

Rev.  M.  Simpson  Culbertson,  D.D. 

Dr.  Culbertson  was  a  native  of  Chambersburgh, 
Pennsylvania.  He  graduated  at  the  Military  Acad- 
emy, West  Point,  where  he  stood  high  in  character 
and  scholarship,  and  spent  a  short  time  as  an  officer 
in  the  U.  S.  Army.  Becoming  an  earnest  follower 
of  Christ,  he  resigned  his  commission  and  pursued 


78  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  usual  course  of  study  in  the  Theological  Semi- 
nary at  Princeton.  He  went  with  his  wife  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  China,  arriving  in  that  country,  October, 
1844.  With  the  exception  of  a  visit  to  this  country, 
for  his  health,  in  1856  and  '57,  he  continued  at  his 
missionary  work  in  China  until  his  death  in  1862,  in 
the  forty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

Dr.  Culbertson  was  fitted  by  nature  and  by  grace 
to  be  a  leader  among  men ;  he  would  doubtless  have 
achieved  distinction  if  he  had  continued  in  military 
service,  but  he  won  a  noble  fame  as  a  missionaiy, 
and  he  never  regretted  his  choice.  He  w^as  held  in 
great  respect  and  esteem  by  his  missionary  breth- 
ren and  by  the  church  at  home.  His  main  work  was 
the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  Chinese,  pur- 
sued for  several  years  in  connection  with  other  emi- 
nent missionaries,  but  which  he  survived  them  to 
complete.  A  w^ork  from  his  pen,  T]lc  Religions  of 
North  China,  was  published  by  Scribner  and  Co., 
New  York,  during  his  visit  to  this  country,  and  it  is 
understood  that  a  biography  of  him  is  in  preparation 
for  the  press.  One  of  his  colleagues,  the  Rev.  W. 
A.  P.  Martin,  D.D.,  at  the  request  of  the  mission- 
aries, preached  a  commemorative  sermon  at  Shang- 
hai, in  August,  1862,  the  concluding  paragraphs  of 
w^hich  are  here  appended: 

^'Of  the  excellencies  of  his  character  I  need  offer 
no  delineation ;  they  are  attested,  with  one  voice,  by 
all  the  Protestant  missionaries,  of  all  ecclesiastical 
connections,  in  this  community.  'Our  devoted 
brother,'  they  say,  in  a  paper,  adopted  a  few  days 
after  his  death,    'was    ''a  man   of  meek  and  quiet 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  79 

Spirit,"  and  remarkable  for  his  singleness  of  aim  and 
straightforward  energy  and  industry  in  his  Master's 

service He  set   before   himself   the   highest 

ends,  and  strove,  both  by  preaching  and  example,  to 
glorify  God  in  the  salvation  of  his  fellow-men.  He 
labored,  in  connection  with  the  late  Dr.  Bridgeman, 
for  several  years,  with  assiduity  and  perseverance,  in 
preparing  a  revised  translation  of  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures in  the  Chinese  language,  a  labor  of  love  which 
he  regarded  as  the  great  work  of  his  hfe,  and  it  was 
a  source  of  great  consolation  to  him,  just  before  his 
departure,  that  God  had  enabled  him  to  complete  it. 
We  recognize  in  these  traits  of  character,  and  this 
Christian  life,  the  devoted  missionary,  whose  example 
is  worthy  of  our  imitation. 

'^^ Resolved,  therefore,  That  we  will  cherish  with 
affectionate  remembrance  the  character  and  course 
of  our  departed  brother. ' 

''Happy  the  grave  which  is  crowned  with  such  a 
tribute  !  There  is  but  one  eulogium  which  a  good 
man  may  covet  more  earnestly,  and  that  is  the 
'Well  done,  good  and  faithful,'  pronounced  by  his 
Lord  and  Saviour.  This  blissful  welcome  has  no 
doubt  greeted  those  ears,  which  are  now  deaf  to  the 
voice  of  human  applause. 

"There  let  us  leave  him,  bending  before  the 
throne  of  God,  and  drinking  in  the  fullness  of  that 
'eternal  life,'  the  words  of  which  he  delighted  in 
dispensing  to  the  perishing  heathen." — -/.  C.  L. 


8o  necrological  record 

Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale. 

A  dark  shadow  has  fallen  upon  our  Syria  Mission 
in  the  death  of  this  beloved  servant  of  God.  We  had 
much  to  say,  but  have  concluded  to  let  those  speak 
who  knew  him  best.  The  following  affectionate  and 
discriminating  tributes  well  express  the  estimate  of 
the  officers  and  members  of  this  Board  as  to  the  man 
and  his  work,  and  also  the  deep  sense  of  bereavement 
which  they  feel. 

Dr.  H.  H.  Jessup,  in  a  letter  dated  October  7,  1886, 
says: 

* '  The  Lord  has  sorely  smitten  the  Syria  Mission 
again,  in  the  sudden  death  of  Rev.  Gerald  F.  Dale, 
Jr. ,  who  died  in  Zahleh  yesterday  morning,  October 
6,  aged  about  forty  years.  His  disease  was  so 
mahgnant  and  swift  that  medical  aid  was  of  no  avail. 
His  little  daughter  Carrie  had  been  ill  for  weeks,  and 
her  death  was  expected  from  day  to  day ;  but  no  one 
dreamed  that  the  father,  in  the  very  prime  and  flower 
of  his  strength,  would  fall  before  that  little,  frail, 
emaciated  child. 

"On  Sunday  he  preached  twice  in  Arabic — in  the 
morning  in  Zahleh,  and  in  the  afternoon  in  Moallakah. 
On  Monday  afternoon  he  went  through  the  new 
school  building  with  his  colleague,  Mr.  Greenlee,  and 
Mr.  Jewett,  an  Oriental  scholar  from  Harvard.  Mr. 
Greenlee  called  his  attention  to  the  swelling  behind 
his  ear  and  on  his  neck,  and  suggested  that  he  ought 
not  to  be  out  in  the  air;  but  he  replied  that  it  was 
only  a  trifling  boil  which  would  soon  pass  away. 
Otherwise  he  seemed  as  well  as  usual.     On  Tuesday 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  8l 

he  felt  somewhat  weak,  but  his  father-in-law,  Dr. 
Bliss,  President  of  the  college  in  Beirut,  thought  it 
only  the  ordinary  effects  of  a  boil,  and  set  out  for 
Beirut  on  horseback,  as  the  college  was  to  open  in  a 
fortnight.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Greenlee  was  with 
him,  and  he  talked  cheerfully  of  the  work  in  the 
Zahleh  station  and  its  outstations ;  but  his  weakness 
increased  so  suddenly  and  rapidly  that  Mrs.  Bliss  au- 
thorized the  native  physician,  a  college  graduate,  to 
telegraph  Dr.  Post  to  come  at  once  from  Beirut. 
Drs.  Post  and  Bliss  left  Beirut  at  up.  m.  ,  and  hastened 
over  Lebanon,  reaching  Zahleh  about  5,30  a.m.  ;  but, 
alas,  they  were  one  hour  too  late !  The  fatal,  mahg- 
nant  pustule  had  poisoned  the  blood,  and  dissolution 
was  inevitable.  Mrs.  Dale,  who  has  an  infant 
daughter  only  three  weeks  old,  was  brought  into  the 
room  before  his  death,  but  he  was  almost  unable  to 
speak  from  the  swelling  in  his  throat.  In  the  fore- 
noon a  funeral  service  was  held  in  the  Zahleh  Church, 
conducted  by  Dr.  Post  and  Mr.  Greenlee,  and  at- 
tended by  a  vast  multitude  of  the  people,  who  after- 
ward accompanied  the  remains  down  the  valley  to 
Moallakah,  from  which  place  Messrs.  Greenlee  and 
Jewett  took  the  precious  casket  in  a  caniage  to  the 
Aaleie  junction  of  the  Damascus  road. 

"  The  funeral  service  was  conducted  in  the  Beirut' 
Church,  by  Dr.  Dennis  and  Mr.  Greenlee  in  English, 
and  Rev.  H.  H.  Jessup  in  Arabic.  We  entered  the 
American  cemetery  near  the  church  by  moonlight, 
and  lowered  the  casket  to  its  resting-place  near  the 
graves  of  Pliny  Fisk,  Eli  Smith  and  Whiting,  Wood, 
Drs.  Danforth  and  Calhoun,  and  many  others  whose 


82  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

names  are  known  and  loved  here  and  in  their  native 
land.  A  wreath  of  flowers,  brought  by  the  ladies  of 
the  British  Syrian  school,  was  laid  on  the  headstone. 
' '  We  can  hardly  realize  the  greatness  of  our  loss, 
nor  can  we  believe  that  he  is  gone.  Dr.  Charles 
Hodge  spoke  thus  of  him  to  the  officers  of  our  Board 
when  he  applied  for  appointment  as  a  missionary: 
*  Mr.  Dale  is  the  model  scholar,  the  model  Christian, 
and  the  model  gentleman  of  Princeton  Seminary.' 
He  has  maintained  this  hi^rh  character  throusfhout. 
He  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  at  the  same  time 
enforced  your  respect  by  his  lofty  motives  and  high 
character,  won  your  love  by  his  gentle  and  winning 
ways,  and  awakened  your  astonishment  at  his  extra- 
ordinary zeal  and  capacity  for  work.  The  first  text 
which  flashed  upon  my  mind  when  the  sad  telegram 
reached  us  was :  '  The  zeal  of  thine  house  hath  eaten 
me  up.'  He  was  literally  on  fire  with  burning  zeal. 
That  benighted  region  of  the  Bukah,  from  Mount 
Hermon  to  Baalbec  and  Riblah,  filled  with  besotted 
Metawileh  and  ignorant  nominal  Christianas,  he  had 
explored  and  awakened  by  his  stirring  activity  and 
burning  words,  until  his  name  was  a  watchword  on 
every  side.  Corrupt  government  officials  feared  his 
stern  integrity,  the  poor  and  oppressed  loved  him, 
and  scores  of  young  men  and  women  whom  he  had 
selected  and  put  in  the  way  of  acquiring  an  education 
looked  upon  him  as  a  benefactor.  He  was  singularly 
devoted  to  his  work.  He  could  go  into  a  Turkish 
court  and  defend  the  rights  of  the  persecuted,  and 
the  corrupt  officials  would  quail  before  him.  And  he 
would  take  a  little  child  by  the  hand,  pat  her  on  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  83 

head,  ask  her  name,  and  win  her  little  heart.  He 
was  a  fine  preacher  in  Arabic,  a  true  and  trusty 
friend,  a  loving  and  beloved  brother,  and  had  won 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  natives  all  over  Syria 
where  he  was  known." 

Rev.  W.  W.  Eddy  writes  thus: 

"I  knew  him  as  a  loved  and  honored  Christian 
brother,  a  most  untiring  Christian  worker,  an  enthu- 
siastic missionary,  having  large  faith  in  man  and 
large  hopes  in  the  results  of  labor;  fertile  in  resources, 
his  energy  branching  out  in  various  lines  of  effort; 
genial  in  intercourse  with  all  men,  conciliatory  in 
manner,  making  friends  and  keeping  them ;  impress- 
ing all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  with  a  convic- 
tion of  his  sincerity  and  entire  devotedness  to  the 
cause  of  his  Master.  This  reaper  has  retired  at  morn 
with  sheaves  of  fruits.  The  same  voice  that  sum- 
moned from  Syria's  plains  Pliny  Fisk  at  the  age  of 
thirty-three,  and  has  since  called,  in  their  early  man- 
hood, Mr.  Wood  and  Dr.  Danforth  and  William  Cal- 
houn and  Miss  Whittlesey  and  Mrs.  Aiken,  has 
called  Mr.  Dale  to  join  them  before  the  throne." 

Rev.  Dr.  James  S.  Dennis,  at  the  funeral  service 
in  Beirut,  said: 

"  Dr.  Dale  was  a  strong  and  earnest  missionary,  and 
he  loved  his  field  with  a  perfect  passion.  Through 
summer  heat  and  winter  cold,  in  storm  and  tempest, 
in  rain  and  mud,  in  snow  and  sleet,  in  withering 
sirocco  as  well  as  in  the  bright  and  glorious  sunshine 
of  that  fair  garden  of  Coelo- Syria,  he  was  in  the 
saddle  visiting  his  parish  and  watching  over  his 
spiritual  charge.      His  fourteen  years  of  missionary 


84  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

life  had  enough  of  spiritual  fire  and  self-consuming" 
zeal  in  them  to  answer  for  an  ordinary  life-time  of 
common  service. 

"  Every  promise  of  infinite  love  was  his.  His  life 
and  his  death  have  been  in  harmony  with  a  divine 
purpose.  His  body  may  have  been  smitten  with  a 
mysterious  disease,  but  his  soul  has  escaped  the 
'snare  of  the  fowler;'  it  has  fled  to  the  land  of  rest 
and  security  where  there  is  no  '  terror  by  night, '  and 
where  no   '  arrow  flieth  by  day, ' 

"When  God's  voice  speaks  it  is  for  us  to  listen. 
This  startling  call,  this  sudden  summons,  is  the  voice 
of  God.  What  does  it  say  ?  It  spoke  to  him  as  a 
pilgrim  in  the  midst  of  life's  pilgrimage,  while  the 
sun  was  yet  high  in  the  heavens  and  his  step  was  still 
steady  and  true,  as  he  pressed  loyally  onward  towards 
a  seemingly  distant  goal.  It  bade  him  stop,  for  the 
pilgrimage  was  ended.  It  bade  him  lay  aside  the 
pilgrim's  staff,  cast  off  those  soiled  and  earth-worn 
garments,  and  prepare  to  enter  the  shining  portals  of 
the  pilgrim's  home. 

"  It  spoke  to  him  as  a  soldier  of  the  cross,  with  his 
armor  on,  at  his  post  of  duty,  in  the  forefront  of  the 
field  of  conflict,  with  his  sword  girded  upon  his  thigh 
— rather  his  good  blade  drawn  in  the  face  of  the  foe, 
and  his  heart  aflame  with  zeal  and  courage  and  high 
ambition.  It  bade  him  sheathe  his  sword,  inigird  it 
from  his  thigh  and  lay  it  aside.  It  bade  him  put  off 
his  armor  and  lay  down  every  weapon  and  cease  from 
earthly  strife.  It  bade  him  hasten  from  the  ranks  of 
the  church  militant  to  the  ranks  of  the  church 
triumphant.     It  proclaimed  his  promotion  on  the  field 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  85 

of  battle,  and  lo !  he  was  lost  as  in  a  chariot  of  fire — 
translated  to  the  land  where  the  conflict  is  hushed 
forever,  and  only  songs  of  peace  float  over  mountain 
and  vale. 

"  It  spoke  to  him  as  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  ever 
faithful  and  true  to  his  Lord's  commission,  ever 
pleading  his  Sovereign's  claims,  ever  ready  and 
prompt  in  his  Master's  business,  ever  seeking  first 
the  glory  of  his  King  and  the  triumph  of  his  cause. 
It  recalled  him  from  the  distant  sphere  of  service 
where  he  had  been  beseeching  men  and  praying 
them  in  Christ's  stead  to  be  reconciled  to  God,  and 
bade  him  hasten  to  the  royal  presence  and  report  in 
person  at  the  palace  of  the  King. 

''  It  spoke  to  him  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  and 
bade  him  cry  aloud  once  more  for  truth  and  righteous- 
ness; another  message  for  the  souls  of  men,  another 
pleading  appeal  of  ardent  love,  another  clarion  call  of 
faith  and  hope  and  high  aspiration;  then  fold  the 
manuscript  and  close  the  Bible,  and  seal  the  lips,  and 
step  down  from  the  place  of  trust  and  power — the 
pulpit  of  a  living,  evangelical  Gospel — and  appear 
before  the  Saviour,  whose  loving  message  he  had  de- 
livered so  faithfully,  and  receive  from  him  the  great 
and  precious  reward. 

"  It  spoke  to  him  as  a  husband,  a  father,  a  son  and 
a  brother,  and  bade  him  say  farewell  to  those  dear 
friends,  and,  leaving  them  in  God's  care,  to  await 
them  on  another  and  a  happier  shore.  Let  us  hope 
that  this  divine  voice,  with  its  solemn  message  to 
him,  will  speak  in  consolation  and  tenderness  to  the 
stricken  hearts  so  suddenly  and  crushingly  bereaved." 


86  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Rev.  George  A.  Ford  writes: 

"  I  am  touched  by  the  sorrowful  exclamations  of 
our  Syrian  brethren.  Even  those  who  knew  him  but 
slightly  declare  '  He  was  wonderful.  Never  have  we 
seen  such  untiring  devotion  and  holy  zeal  as  his.' 
The  Zahleh  Station  mourns  him  who  was  called  of 
God  to  be  the  chief  instrument  in  founding  it  and  in 
developing  it  these  fourteen  years ;  whose  name  had 
become  a  '  household  word  '  throughout  a  large  sec- 
tion of  country.  The  college  mourns  a  missionary 
who  surpassed  all  his  associates  in  unsparing  devotion 
to  its  interests,  and  in  affectionate  relations  to  its  stu- 
dent constituency. 

' '  The  Mission  mourns  its  most  enthusiaatic  and  de- 
voted member,  whose  zeal  has  passed  into  a  proverb 
among  us.  In  our  devotional  meetings  his  words 
were  always  aflame  with  holy  fire,  and  his  prayers 
those  of  one  eminently  a  '  man  of  God,'  or  to  use  his 
own  favorite  expression,    'waiting  upon  God.' 

''  But  that  which  most  impressed  one  in  the  char- 
acter of  Brother  Dale  was  the  Christianlike  union  of 
dissimilar  traits  rarely  to  be  seen  together.  He  ex- 
celled in  both  spirituality  and  practicability.  He  was 
most  serious  yet  most  sanguine.  He  was  no  less  re- 
markable for  gentleness  than  for  energy,  for  superb 
push  than  for  superb  patience,  and  for  conspicuous 
positiveness  than  for  conspicuous  modesty.  His 
severity  was  always  kind  and  his  friendliness  always 
dignified." — Foreign  Missionary^  December,  1886. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  8/ 

Mrs.  Joshua  A.  Danforth. 

Writing  from  Tungchow,  China,  of  the  death  of 
his  wife,  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Danforth  gave  the  following 
account.  It  no  doubt  describes  correctly  the  worth 
of  this  devoted  missionary.  "Shortly  after  reach- 
ing hom.e  she  rapidly  declined,  until  on  the  13th  inst. 
(September,  1861),  her  twenty-third  birthday,  she 
folded  her  hands  and  gently  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.  So 
calmly  and  peacefully  did  she  pass  away  that  we 
could  scarcely  perceive  when  her  freed  spirit  escaped 
from  its  prison  and  sped  away  on  angel's  wings  to 
that  better  land  where 

"Sickness  and  sorrow,  pain  and  death 
Are  felt  and  feared  no  more. 

"Trtisting  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ  alone,  a 
more  calm  and  peaceful  death  it  has  never  been  our 
privilege  to  witness.  Long  and  weary  months  had 
she  suffered  and  much  of  the  time  intensely,  but  not 
a  murmur  escaped  her  lips.  Resigned  in  all  things 
to  the  will  of  him  who  doeth  all  things  well,  she 
patiently  awaited  the  result,  desiring  to  live  only  that 
she  might  more  worthily  serve  and  honor  him.  But 
now  she  enjoys  a  blessed  release 

''She  was  ever  a  loving  and  faithful  wife.  Her 
sound  and  mattire  judgment,  her  strong  common- 
sense,  her  decision  and  energy  in  action,  her  refine- 
ment and  delicacy  of  sentiment,  her  high  sense  of 
honor,  her  gentleness  and  serenity  of  temper — no 
doubt  the  result  of  a  very  marked  growth  in  grace 
during  the  last  few  years — and  the  warmth  and 
strength  of  her  attachments  all  combined  to  render 


88  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

her  character  one  of  the  most  perfect  and  complete 
which  this  imperfect  world  affords." — J.  C.  L. 


George  B.  Danforth,  M.D. 

"  Early  in  this  season  of  sickness  the  Syria  Mis- 
sion was  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of  G.  B.  Danforth, 
M.D.,  a  faithful  and  beloved  missionary  at  Tripoli. 
Dr.  Danforth  had  been  engaged  in  the  work  about 
three  and  a  half  years,  during  which  time  he  had 
won  the  esteem  of  the  entire  mission  and  of  large 
numbers  of  the  natives  in  and  around  Tripoli. 
While  learning  the  language  he  had  begun  to  be 
eminently  useful  as  a  physician,  thereby  gaining 
favor  not  only  for  himself  and  his  work,  but  also  for 
the  whole  cause  of  the  mission.  His  wife,  though 
left  with  the  care  of  two  young  children,  will  remain 
in  Syria  and  engage  in  mission  work." 

Dr.  Danforth  died  at  Tripoli,  July  7,  1875,  of  the 
Syrian  fever,  in  the  twenty-ninth  year  of  his  age. — 
Annual  Report^  1876. 


Mrs.  George  B.  Danforth. 

On  the  8th  of  January,  1881,  Mrs.  Emily  Danforth, 
after  a  brief,  acute  illness,  was  removed  to  another 
world.  She  had  suffered  greatly  from  ill  health  for 
some  months,  but  had  been  supposed  to  be  somewhat 
improved.  Mrs.  Danforth  was  the  oldest  daughter 
of  the  late  Rev.  Simeon  H.  Calhoun,  and  was  born 
on  the  mission  held.     With  the  exception  of  two  or 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  89 

three  years  spent  in  this  country,  she  had  passed  her 
whole  life  in  Syria.  Her  husband  had  died  five 
years  before  of  cholera  at  the  Tripoli  station,  leaving 
her  with  two  young  children.  Fortunately,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  she  had  for  the  last  three  years 
enjoyed  the  assistance  and  tender  care  of  her  widowed 
mother,  by  whom  her  burdens  and  infirmities  were 
greatly  relieved. — Annual  Report^  1881. 

Rev.  Ishwari  Das. 

This  lamented  Hindu  minister  died  at  Futtehgurh, 
May  2,  1867  (at  the  age  probably  of  about  forty). 
He  was  so  long  connected  with  the  mission,  and  for 
so  large  a  part  of  the  time  in  positions  of  usefulness 
and  responsibility,  and  he  always  attended  to  his 
duty  with  such  quiet  punctuality  and  faithfulness, 
that  it  will  be  difficult,  indeed,  to  find  any  one  who 
can  fill  his  place. 

In  childhood,  Ishwari  Das  was  one  of  a  number  of 
orphan  children  collected  at  Futtehpore  by  a  pious 
English  physician.  These  children,  when  afterwards 
handed  over  to  the  charge  of  Rev.  Henry  R.  Wilson, 
became  the  germ  from  which  grew  the  Rakha  Chris- 
tian village  at  Futtehgurh.  In  youth,  he  was  noted 
for  a  steady  disposition  and  a  love  for  books.  In  the 
study  of  the  English  language  and  literature  he 
made  unusual  proficiency.  He  could  speak  that  lan- 
guage as  few  Hindus  can,  with  no  perceptible 
accent,  and  with  great  grammatical  and  idiomatical 

purity At  what  time  he  was  first  savingly 

impressed   with    the   truths    of    Christianity   is   not 


90  Nl£CROLOGICAL    RECORD 

known,  nor  is  there  any  record  of  the  time  when  he 
joined  the  Lord's  people  by  profession,  but  this  was 
most  probably  done  in  earl)^  life,  for  he  was  one  of 
the  first  three  orphans  admitted  to  the  communion. 
At  an  early  age  he  became  a  teacher  in  the  High 
School  of  Furrukhabad,  where  he  remained  for  some 
time. 

During  the  mutiny,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
with  his  wife  and  several  small  children,  was  exposed 
for  months  to  great  hardships  and  dangers.  When 
the  missionaries  held  their  final  interview  with  the 
native  Christians  before  entering  on  their  ill-fated 
journey  to  Cawnpore,  some  of  the  former  proposed 
that  they  should  live  and  die  with  their  people.  But 
it  was  generally  held  better  for  both  parties  that  they 
should  separate,  as  it  was  probable  that  the  latter,  as 
natives  of  the  country,  could  hide  in  distant  villages 
and  escape,  whereas  white  faces  would  only  endanger 
them. 

The  former  home  of  one  of  the  Rakha  Christians 
w^as  in  a  village  a  few  miles  from  Futtehgurh. 
Accordingly  he  and  Ishwari  Das,  and  one  or  two 
others,  with  their  families,  fled  to  that  place  and 
remained  two  or  three  weeks  in  concealment.  When 
news  came  that  Dhokul  Pershad  and  those  with  him 
w^ho  had  not  succeeded  in  escaping  from  Futtehgurh 
had  been  cruelly  slaughtered  on  the  parade  ground 
there,  the  Zamindar  who  had  been  protecting  them 
sent  to  say  that  he  had  been  at  great  pains  to  secure  a 
good  name  with  the  English,  and  that  if,  as  he  very 
much  feared  would  be  the  case,  they  should  be  mas- 
sacred by  some  wandering  band  of  rebels  while  nomi- 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  9I 

nally  under  his  protection,  he  would  be  held  to  strict 
account.  In  short,  though  personally  well  aisposed, 
he  declined  to  risk  anything  on  their  behalf. 

Leaving  this  village,  they  traveled  on  to  the  once 
famous  Hindu  capital  of  Kanouge.  After  many 
perils  and  mishaps  ....  they  resolved  on  making 
their  way  as  best  they  might,  on  foot,  to  Cawnpore, 
but  intelligence  reached  them  of  the  bloody  massacre 
of  the  English  and  their  dear  friends,  the  mission- 
aries, at  that  place,  and  so  their  way  seemed  to  be 
hedged  up. 

Ishwari  Das  then  said  to  his  companions:  *'  Let  us 
return  and  deliver  ourselves  up  to  the  Nawab  of 
Furrukhabad ;  he  will  only  slay  us  as  he  has  slain  our 
brother  Dhokul  and  the  rest,  but  that  is  only  five 
minutes  of  suffering  and  then  forever  rest  and  peace. 
Better  dying  than  this  death  in  life. "  And  so  they 
turned  their  sad  footsteps  once  more  towards  their 
desolated  homes,  hoping  that,  if  not  in  life,  at  least 
in  the  grave  they  might  find  rest.  Wandering  here 
and  there,  suffered  for  a  few  days  and  then  rudely 
sent  away,  helped  by  some  and  threatened  and 
abused  by  others,  they  remained  the  sport  of  fortune 
and  the  victims  of  suspense  and  hope  deferred,  until 
at  last  news  spread  like  wildfire  through   the  land 

that  the.  English  had  taken  Cav/npore Lord 

Clyde's  force  soon  advanced  to  Futtehgurh,  and 
cleared  away  the  rebels,  defeating  the  Nawab's  army. 
This  enabled  the  Christians  to  return  and  rebuild  the 
ruins  of  their  once  happy  village.  Here,  even  before 
the  country  was  safe  for  travel,  they  were  visited  by 
our  lamented   brother,    Fullerton,    from   the    Agra 


92  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Fort.  No  one  who  has  read  his  description  of  that 
meeting  in  the  May  number  of  the  Foreign  Mission- 
ary^ for  1858,  can  soon  forget  that  pathetic  story. 
(See  Appendix.) 

I  have  been  told  that,  even  in  those  disturbed 
days,  when  they  were  surrounded  by  perils  and  pri- 
vations, Ishwari  Das  was  not  idle,  but  that  he  pre- 
pared a  diglott  manual  of  English  and  Urdu,  with 
reading  exercises,  and  a  concise  grammar  and  vocab- 
ulary, to  enable  persons  of  little  leisure  to  obtain  a 
better  acquaintance  with  the  Urdu  language.  This 
book  was  pubhshed  and  served  a  very  useful  purpose. 

Unlike  so  many  of  the  educated  natives  of  Hindus- 
tan, he  greatly  desired  to  be  useful  to  his  country- 
men by  introducing  them  to  occidental  science  and 
literature  by  means  of  translations  and  compilations. 
In  his  later  years  he  spent  much  time  in  preparing  a 
series  of  text-books,  for  our  schools,  in  the  Urdu 
language,  such  as  Outlines  of  History,  Grammar, 
Geography,  etc.  He  published  also  a  useful  little 
hand-book,  giving  the  various  forms  in  the  conjuga- 
tion of  Hindustani  verbs,  with  their  English  equiva- 
lents. After  his  return  from  America  he  published 
a  small  volume  of  his  impressions  and  experiences 

•in  that  land A  much  more  important  work 

in  the  same  language  was  his  Domestic  Manners  and 
Customs  of  the  Hindoos,  whose  object  was  to  show 
to  the  English  residents  the  habits  and  manner  of 
life  and  thought  of  the  people  among  whom  they 
dwell.  I  know  of  no  work  which  gives  in  so  brief 
space  such  accurate  and  extensive  information  on 
this   subject.     A   second  edition   of   this   work   has 


OF  THE   HOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  93 

lately  been  issued  in  Benares.  He  also  took  the 
prize  of  $ioo,  offered  for  the  best  essay  on  Female 
Education  in  India. 

Beside  the  smaller  works  above  alluded  to,  this 
lamented  brother  has  left  behind  a  legacy  to  the 
native  Church  which  will  long  cause  his  name  to  be 
held  in  grateful  remembrance.  Some  years  ago,  a 
learned  Bengal  civilian  offered  a  prize  of  $250  for 
the  best  system  of  Theology,  simple  in  style,  and 
suited  in  illustration  to  the  Hindu  mind.  The  prize 
was  given  to  Ishwari  Das'  Lectures  on  Theology^ 
which  are  admirably  adapted  to  their  purpose — that 
is,  to  the  instruction  in  the  faith  of  the  unlearned. 
The  work  has  been  published  both  in  English  and 
Urdu.  The  English  copy  is  a  closely-printed  i6mo 
of  over  400  pages.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  he  was 
an  earnest  and  industrious  as  well  as  a  scholarly  man, 
and  accomplished  much  in  spite  of  frequent  ill-health 
and  weakness  of  the  eyes,  which  much  interfered 
with  his  studies.  After  the  mutiny  he  was  engaged 
for  some  time  as  head-master  of  the  Furrukhabad 
school,  and  afterwards  of  the  school  at  Rakha.  For 
a  year  or  two  he  also  assisted  the  missionary  by  tak- 
ing one  of  the  Sabbath  services,  having  to  this  end 
been  licensed  by  the  Furrukhabad  Presbytery.  As  a 
preacher,  he  was  simple,  earnest  and  instructive, 
though  with  no  considerable  graces  of  delivery. 

At  the  close  of  1865,  the  station  of  Futtehpore  was 
left  vacant  by  the  transfer  of  the  missionary  to  Eta- 
wah,  and  Ishwari  Das  was  selected  as  the  most 
suitable  of  the  native  brethren  to  fill  the  place. 
Accordingly  a  solemn  ordination  service  was  held  in 


94  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  presence  of  a  large  congregation,  and  he  was 
sent  under  bright  auspices  to  his  new  field  of  labor. 
His  health,  however,  soon  began  to  fail,  and  at  the 
end  of  a  year  he  was  sent  back  to  Futtehgurh,  in  the 
hope  that  his  health  might  be  sufficiently  restored  to 
enable  him  to  become  the  pastor  of  the  Rakha 
church.  But  this  hope  was  never  realized.  A  severe 
attack  of  dyspepsia  ended  at  last  in  inflammation  of 
the  bowels,  and  he  suffered  months  of  agony,  until 
at  last  his  Saviour  gave  him  release. 

During  his  long  and  painful  illness  this  dear 
brother  was  peculiarly  blessed  in  being  enabled  to 
show  what  religion  can  do  for  the  Christian.  Bear- 
ing his  sufferings  with  the  utmost  patience,  looking 
forward  with  confidence  to  the  hope  of  a  blessed 
release,  and  bearing  a  constant  and  unwavering  tes- 
timony to  the  preciousness  and  sufficiency  of  the 
Saviour,  I  trust  many  were  enabled  to  say:  "  Let  me 
die  the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be 
like  his. "  In  many  conversations  with  him  the  clear- 
ness and  simplicity  of  his  faith  were  very  evident. 
' '  I  am  a  great  sinner,  but  Christ,  who  died  for  me,  is 
a  great  Saviour;  he  has  promised  to  save  all  who  trust 
in  him,  and  he  will  not,  cannot  fail,"  seemed  his  sim- 
ple creed.  To  those  who  visited  him  on  his  death- 
bed, heathen  and  Christian,  he  spoke  often  and  sol- 
emnly of  the  duty  of  preparing  to  meet  their  God,  so 
that  even  unspiritual  persons  came  away,  saying-, 
''What  a  holy  man  is  that!"  He  once  spoke  to  me 
very  sadly  of  how  few  there  were  who  seemed  able  to 
enter  into  sympathy  with  him  when  he  spoke  of  the 
precious  things  of  Christ. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  95 

Speaking  to  him  one  day  of  the  way  by  which 
God  had  led  him,  lie  replied,  ' '  One  verse  expresses 
it  all — '  Surely  goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  me 
all  the  days  of  my  life.'  "  Such  was  what  grace  had 
done  for  a  man  who,  but  for  the  Gospel,  Avould  prob- 
ably have  grown  up  a  stupid,  ignorant  Hindu,  bow- 
ing, with  clasped  hands,  before  some  hideous  image 
chiseled  out  of  stone,  wearing  caste-marks  of  mud 
and  ashes  plastered  on  his  face  and  drinking  tire 
water  in  which  his  Brahmin  teacher  had  washed  his 
feet.  Is  not  this  a  victory  ?  Should  not  the  people 
of  God  desire  more  such  victories  ?  Could  they  not 
have  such  ?  Here  is  a  brand  plucked  from  the  burn- 
ing— a  valuable  teacher,  author,  minister  raised  up ; 
a  happy  Christian  home  and  family  altar  established ; 
a  number  of  children  trained  up  in  Christian  truth 
and  to  bright  promise  of  usefulness  ;  an  eminent 
example  of  Christian  living  and  dying  ;  what  is  not 
all  this  worth  to  the  Church  ? — Rev.   IV.  F.  JoJiiison. 

Mrs.  G.  L.  Deffenbaugh. 

Rev.  G.  L.  Deffenbaugh,  of  the  Nez  Perces 
Mission,  has  been  called  to  mourn  the  death  of  his 
wife,  who  died  at  Lewiston,  Idaho,  Janua,ry  3,  18S7. 
Less  than  a  year  and  a  half  ago  she  had  been  married 
from  her  home  in  West  Pennsylvania,  and  had  seemed 
to  enter  upon  her  missionary  work  in  firm  health  and 
cheerful  spirits.  She  had  won  the  esteem  of  all  who 
knew  her,  and  had  proved  a  worthy  sympathizer  and 
helper  of  her  husband  in  his  remote  station  work  at 
Lapwai.     A  complication  of  ailments,  culminating  in 


96  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

quick  consumption,  closed  her  brief  earthly  service 
and  bore  her  to  her  eternal  rest. — Church  at  Home 
and  Abroad.  March,  1887. 


Rev.  Cornelius  DeHeer  and  Mrs.  DeHeer. 

Mr.  DeHeer  entered  upon  mission  work  in  Africa  in 
1855,  and  with  the  exception  of  furloughs  for  health 
and  rests  continued  in  active  service  until  Septem- 
ber, 1888,  when  he  withdrew  on  account  of  impaired 
health,  but  with  the  earnest  hope  of  being  permitted 
to  return  to  his  field.  He  labored  first  on  the  island  of 
Corisco,  and  afterwards  at  Benita  on  the  mainland. 
His  superior  natural  gifts,  indefatigable  industry, 
patient  perseverance,  remarkable  common  sense  and, 
above  all,  fervent  piety  and  love  for  souls,  made  him  a 
model  missionary  and  won  for  him  the  confidence  and 
affection  of  his  fellow-laborers  and  of  the  natives.  His 
death  (which  occurred  at  Clifton  Springs,  N.  Y., 
October  20,  1889)  has  been  a  sore  bereavement  to  the 
mission,  but  his  memory  is  fragrant,  and  the  work  he 
accomplished  for  Christ  will  continue  to  tell  as  the 
years  go  by.  Mrs.  DeHeer  and  Mrs.  Reutlinger,  who 
accompanied  Mr.  DeHeer  to  this  country,  still  remain, 
but  with  the  expectation  of  returning  to  Africa  in  the 
near  future. — Annual  Report^  1890. 


Mrs.  C.  DeHeer. 

Mr.   DeHeer  was  twice  married.     His   first  wife, 
who  accompanied  him  to  Africa,  died  of  malignant 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  97 

fever  at  Corisco,  April  2,  1857,  leaving  two  daughters, 
one  of  whom  was  adopted  by  Dr.  J.  Leighton  Wilson, 
and  one  by  a  lady  of  New  York.  The  Annual  Re- 
port of  1858,  referring  to  the  death  of  Mrs.  DeHeer, 
says,   ''  Her  end  was  calm  and  peaceful." 


Rev.  John  M.  Deputie. 

"  It  is  with  great  regret  that  we  have  to  record  the 
death  of  Rev.  John  M.  Deputie  at  his  station  near 
Marshall,  Liberia,  July  29,  1877.  This  bereavement 
was  most  unexpected.  Mr.  Deputie  was  ill  but  a 
short  time  and  was  taken  from  his  work  as  a  faithful 
servant  of  Christ  in  the  midst  of  his  days,  being  about 
thirty-five  years  of  age.  His  early  death  is  a  great 
loss  to  the  church  in  Liberia." — Record^  October, 
1877. 

Miss  Susie  Dewsnap. 

Miss  Dewsnap  sailed  for  the  Gaboon  and  Corisco 
Mission  in  April,  1875.  After  a  short  visit  home  in 
1879,  she  returned  to  the  field  and  died  soon  after  her 
arrival,  August  17,  1881,  at  Kangwe,  on  the  Ogove, 
Africa.  She  was  a  sincere  follower  of  Christ,  and  her 
last  days  were  supported  by  his  grace. — Record^  No- 
vember, 1 88 1. 


Rev.  Darius  L.  Donnell. 

Mr.  Donnell,  a  graduate  of  Lincoln  University,  and 
his  wife  embarked  for  Liberia  in  June,  1878.     They 


98  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

went  to  a  place  on  the  Marfar  river  with  a  view  to 
forming  a  station  among  the  Veys,  but  Mr.  Donnell 
was  soon  taken  with  illness,  which  continued  until  his 
death,  January  22,  1879.  This  early  removal  of  one 
who  seemed  to  be  remarkably  well  qualified  for  use- 
fulness is  greatly  deplored.  It  confirms  previous 
lessons  of  experience,  that  in  Western  Africa,  for 
health,  more  depends  on  constitution,  adaptation  to 
climate,  etc.,  than  on  race  or  complexion. — Annual 
Report^  1879. 


Rev.  James  Eden. 

Mr.  Eden  was  removed  by  death  June  i,  1847. 
He  was  among  the  first  emigrants  to  Liberia,  was 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Monrovia,  was 
much  respected  by  his  acquaintances  while  he  lived, 
and  by  them  his  memory  will  be  long  held  in  esteem. 
— Anmial  Report^  1848. 


Miss  Margaret  L.  Ewalt. 

Miss  Ewalt,  who  joined  the  Kolhapur  Mission  in 
1888,  and  was  obliged  to  return  home  owing  to  serious 
illness,  died  March  6,  1892,  at  her  mother's  home  in 
Hogestown,  Pa.  ''  She  was  very  dear  to  us,"  writes 
one  of  her  missionary  associates.  ''  Quiet  persever- 
ance in  duty  was  her  characteristic." — Annual  Re- 
port^ 1892. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  99 

Rev.  George  Henry  Ferris. 

In  Indian  Notes  for  April  (which,  by  the  way,  is  an 
interesting  little  native  paper)  there  is  an  account  of 
Mr.  Ferris,  who  died  at  Poona,  March  7,  1894,  by 
Emma  Stewart.  He  was  born  at  Hillsdale,  Mich., 
December,  1853,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton 
College  and  of  Auburn  Theological  Seminary.  He 
offered  himself  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  was  appointed  to  Kolha- 
pur,  Western  India,  which  he  joined  with  his  wife  in 
1879.  Mrs.  Ferris  is  supported  by  the  Presbyterial 
Society  of  New  Castle  Presbytery.  His  death  oc- 
curred suddenly  after  a. short  illness,  and  away  from 
home,  as  he  had  gone  to  Bombay  on  business  con- 
nected with  his  office  as  treasurer  of  the  mission 
and,  falling  ill  while  there,  was  unable  to  go  further 
than  Poona  on  his  w^ay  home.  He  was  buried  at 
Kolhapur,  in  the  Mission  cemetery. 

Mr.  Ferris  was  such  a  useful  and  gifted  man  that 
the  mission  work  suffers  a  serious  loss.  His  genial 
manner,  clear  foresight,  knowledge  of  the  language 
and  commercial  affairs  of  the  country,  made  him  a 
valuable  missionary.  He  also  had  a  tender  sympathy 
for  the  poor  and  suffering,  and  longing  that  India 
might  seek  Christ.  In  his  dying  moments  his  last 
coherent  sentence  was,  "  O,  if  they  would  only  seek 
the  truth,  thousands  would  be  saved." 

Those  who  knew  him  have  observed  a  spiritual 
growth,  a  ripening,  as  it  were,  for  heaven,  of  late 
years.  His  little  girl,  Phoebe,  is  with  her  mother, 
who  will  continue  her  work  in  India,  as  stated  recently 


lOO  NKCROLOGICAL    RECORD 

in  the  columns  of  this  paper.  There  are  three  boys 
in  this  country,  and  all  must  feel  sympathy  for  this 
stricken  family,  and  will  pray  that  they  may  be  com- 
forted.—  The  Presbyterian^  July  25,  1894. 

Prof.  W.  W.  Findley. 

Professor  Findley,  appointed  to  the  Bogota  Mission, 
was  not  permitted  to  reach  his  field,  but  died  on  the 
2 1  St  of  August,  1889,  at  Sogarnoso,  on  the  Magdalen 
river,  en  ronte  to  Bogota.  He  was  taken  ill  of  yellow 
fever,  of  which  Miss  Ramsay,  an  associate  mission- 
ary, had  died  a  few  days  before  at  Barranquilla. 
The  symptoms  were  serious  from  the  first,  and  the 
disease  developed  rapidly.  His  fellow-travelers. 
Rev.  W.  W.  and  Mrs.  Caldwell,  secured  for  him  the 
best  available  medical  skill  and  bestowed  tender  and 
faithful  nursing,  but  were  soon  compelled  to  lay  his 
body  to  rest  in  the  place  where  he  died.  Prof.  Find- 
ley had  been  appointed  to  open  a  school  for  boys  at 
Bogota  on  the  basis  of  the  highest  testimonials  as  to 
his  Christian  character,  missionary  spirit,  intellectual 
qualifications  and  experience  as  a  teacher,  mainly  in 
the  Academy  of  South  Salem,  Ohio.  After  speaking 
with  some  detail  of  his  death,  which  was  a  signal 
triumph  of  faith,  Mr.  Caldwell  adds:  ''  In  the  death 
of  Prof.  Findley  we  have  lost  not  only  a  valued 
helper  but  a  very  dear  friend.  He  was  talented, 
pious  and  earnest.  He  seemed  to  be  just  the  right 
man  for  the  work ;  but  God's  ways  are  not  our  ways, 
and  we  know  that  he  makes  no  mistakes." — C/mrch 
at  Home  and  Abroad^  November,  1889. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  loi 

Mrs.  Mary  Fleming. 

Mrs.  Fleming,  wife  of  Rev.  John  Fleming,  of  the 
Chippewa  Mission,  died  in  September,  1839,  after  a 
brief  but  severe  illness. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fleming  joined  the  Rev.  Peter 
Dougherty  soon  after  he  began  his  mission  among 
the  Indians  on  Grand  Traverse  Bay.  On  the  death 
of  his  wife,  who  left  an  infant  daughter,  Mr.  Flem- 
ing's views  of  duty  constrained  him  to  withdraw 
from  the  service  of  the  Board. — Animal  Report^  1840. 

Rev.  Charles  W.  Forman,  D.D. 

The  death  of  the  Rev.  Charles  William  Forman, 
D.D.,  of  our  Lodiana  Mission,  which  occurred  at 
Kasauli,  India,  August  27,  1894,  removes  one  of  the 
most  venerated  and  beloved  missionaries  connected 
with  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  Dr.  Forman 
was  a  native  of  Kentucky,  a  graduate  of  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  and  at  the  time  of  his  appoint- 
ment as  missionary  a  member  of  the  Ebenezer 
Presbytery.  He  sailed  for  India,  August  u,  1847, 
while  our  mission  work  in  that  vast  empire  w^as  still 
in  its  infancy.  In  1846,  at  the  close  of  the  first  Sikh 
war,  the  mission  had  crossed  the  Sutlej  and  planted 
a  station  at  Jullundur  within  the  Punjab  (Country  of 
the  Five  Rivers).  Soon  after  Dr.  Forman's  arrival 
in  India  the  annexation  of  the  Punjab  by  the  British 
government,  and  the  favor  of  the  Board  of  Admin- 
istration, which  included  the  two  Lawrences,  Henry 
and   John,  opened   the   way  for   the  occupation    of 


I02  NECROLOGICAL   KIXORD 

Lahore,  the  capital  of  the  new  province,  and  the 
late  Rev.  John  Newton,  D.D.,  and  Mr.  Forman 
were  appointed  to  the  station.  It  was  in  and  from 
this  centre  of  influence  that  Dr.  Forman  did  his 
missionary  work.  That  work  was  varied  as  neces- 
sity or  opportunity  required.  It  consisted  mainly, 
perhaps,  in  the  organizing  and  superintending  of  a 
system  of  schools  under  mission  control  where  the 
Word  of  God  was  habitually  taught  and  from  which 
thousands  of  young  men  have  gone  forth  with  at 
least  an  mtellectual  conviction  as  to  the  truth  of 
Christianity,  while  it  is  believed  that  not  a  few  have 
felt  its  regenerating  power.  But  Dr.  Forman  was 
also  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  in  preaching 
the  Gospel.  In  bazaar,  church  and  lecture  hall,  to 
the  learned  in  the  great  educational  centre  of  North 
India,  and  also  to  the  low  castes  in  the  villages,  it 
was  his  highest  joy  to  preach  the  unsearchable 
riches  of  Christ.  A  few  weeks  before  his  death, 
when  it  became  evident  that  he  could  no  longer 
hope  to  resume  full  work,  in  a  letter  to  the  Board 
he  expressed  the  desire  and  purpose  of  doing  some- 
thing in  the  wider  distribution  of  the  printed  Gos- 
pels and  of  his  little  book  for  Mohammedans,  The 
Christian  Sword  and  SJiicld. 

Dr.  Forman  was  universally  beloved.  The  devout- 
ness  of  his  spirit,  the  simplicity  of  his  life,  the 
strength  of  his  character,  the  broadness  of  his  views 
and  sympathies,  his  indefatigable  zeal,  his  grasp  of 
the  situation  in  India,  and  above  all  his  interest  in 
and  affection  for  the  native  population  of  all  classes, 
won   for  him    universal  esteem.      During  the    early 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I03 

part  of  his  illness,  when  a  rumor  of  his  death  was 
circulated,  a  notoriously  anti-Christian  newspaper 
published  in  Lahore  devoted  an  editorial  to  the  com- 
mendation of  his  life  and  work,  stating  that  '■^  no 
foreigner  had  ever  entered  the  Punjab  who  had  done 
so  inncJi  for  the  Punjab  as  Padri  For  man  Sahib. " 

Not  least  among  his  services  to  the  Church  and  to 
India  was  the  giving  of  three  sons  and  tv\^o  daughters 
to  the  missionary  work,  two  of  w^hom  are  connected 
with  the  Lodiana  Mission,  and  three  with  the  Furruk- 
habad  Mission.  The  first  Mrs.  Forman  was  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  John  Newton,  D.D.  It  is 
expected  that  the  present  Mrs.  Forman,  who  with 
two  younger  children  survives  her  husband,  will  con- 
tinue the  work  in  India,  to  which  she  has  given  her 
life  and  for  which  she  has  excellent  qualifications. 

The  Church  in  the  homeland  knew  little  of  Dr. 
Forman  from  personal  contact,  as  only  three  times 
during  his  forty-seven  years  of  service  in  India  did 
he  visit  the  United  States,  and  on  two  of  these  occa- 
sions he  remained  but  six  months,  being  impatient 
to  return  to  his  chosen  work.  But  his  name  stands 
for  that  which  is  noblest  and  best  in  Northern  India, 
and  it  will  be  gratefully  remembered  in  connection 
with  the  efforts  of  our  Church  to  give  the  Gospel  to 
that  distant  land. — CJiurek  at  Home  and  Abroad^ 
November,  1894. 

Mrs.   Margaret  N.   Forman. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Newton,  wife  of  Rev.  Charles  W. 
Forman,  died  at  Lahore,  India,  May  12,  1878. 


I04  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

Mrs.  Forman  had  been  a  sufferer  for  many 
months,  but  she  bore  all  her  trials  with  a  noble 
Christian  faith.  She  was  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Rev.  John  Newton,  our  oldest  missionary  in  India, 
and  was  permitted,  with  her  husband,  to  spend  most 
of  her  life  for  the  people  among  whom  she  was  born. 
Her  death  was  peaceful  and  quiet,  not  a  struggle 
and  apparently  without  pain.  For  a  week  before  she 
died  they  had  great  difficulty  in  conversing  with  her, 
and  most  of  the  time  towards  the  last  she  lay  in  a 
sort  of  stupor.  Mr.  Forman  writes  that  he  said  to 
her  a  few  days  before  she  died:  "Do  you  know  the 
doctor  thinks  you  cannot  live  much  longer  ?" 
*'Yes,"  she  said,  "papa  has  told  me  so."  He  adds, 
"  I  don't  think  I  had  seen  her  face  hght  up  with  such 
a  smile  for  many  days  as  it  did  when  she  said  this. 
She  greatly  dreaded  living  much  longer  and  suffer- 
ing more  severe  pain,  but  said  she  was  wilhng  to  do  so 
if  it  were  God's  will.  We  cannot  help  rejoicing  that 
she  is  freed  from  her  sufferings,  but  oh  what  a 
vacancy  it  makes  in  our  family  circle.  Her  life  was 
very  quiet  and  her  faith  was  strong,  and  all  who  vis- 
ited her  sick-room  felt  strengthened." 

It  can  be  truly  said  of  the  departed  that  she  was  a 
good  wife,  a  good  mother  and  a  good  missionary. 
One  of  the  great  trials  of  her  life  was  in  parting 
with  her  children.  Most  of  them  are  at  this  time  in 
the  United  States  receiving  an  education. — Foreign 
Missionary^  August,  1878. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  10$ 

Rev.  John  E.  Freeman. 

Mr.  Freeman  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  born  in 
the  year  1809,  and  a  graduate  of  the  College  and  of 
the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton.  He  arrived 
in  India  with  his  wife  in  1839,  and  was  stationed  at 
Allahabad.  In  1849,  Mrs.  Freeman  was  taken  to 
her  rest.  Next  year  he  returned  to  this  country  on 
a  visit  for  his  health,  and  in  185 1  he  went  back  to 
India,  after  having  again  entered  into  the  marriage 
relation.  He  was  settled  most  of  the  time  after  his 
return  at  Mynpurie,  but  removed  to  Futtehgurh  in 
1856,  where  he  remained  until  the  mutiny  of  the 
Sepoys  led  to  his  violent  death  in  1857.  He  was  a 
practical,  industrious,  faithful  missionary.  No  ex- 
tended notice  is  here  given,  for  the  same  reason  as 
already  mentioned  in  the  notice  of  the  Rev.  David 
E.  Campbell,  supra  (see  Appendix). — J.  C.  L. 


Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Freeman. 

Mrs.  Freeman,  wife  of  the  Rev.  John  E.  Freeman, 
departed  this  life  at  Allahabad,  Northern  India, 
August  8,  1849,  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  her  age. 

Mrs.  Freeman  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  and 
resided  there  up  to  the  time  of  her  entering  upon 
the  life  of  a  missionary.  Her  maiden  name  was 
Mary  Ann  Beach,  daughter  of  Isaac  N.  and  Mary 
Beach.  It  was  her  happiness  to  be  found  in  the 
line  of  covenant  blessings,  and  to  grow  up  amidst 
such  influences  as  a  pious,  well-regulated  family  sel- 
dom  fails   to   exert.      Her   profiting  soon   began  to 


Io6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

appear.  Very  early  in  life  she  exhibited  a  degree  of 
thoughtfulness,  a  self-control,  and  a  general  maturity 
of  character,  much  above  what  is  common  to  chil- 
dren of  the  same  age.  When  about  sixteen  she 
made  a  public  profession  of  Christ's  name.  From 
that  time  onward,  her  path  was  like  the  shining 
light,  shining  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day. 

In  the  year  1838,  she  accompanied  her  husband  to 
India.  On  the  passage  out  she  diligently  employed 
her  time  in  such  studies  as  might  the  better  fit  her  for 
her  work;  and  in  fifteen  months  after  reaching  the 
station  assigned  them,  she  was  able  to  render  valu- 
able assistance  in  teaching  a  school,  both  in  the  Urdu 
and  Hindi  languages.  She  was  very  efficient  as  a 
helper  in  every  good  work  appertaining  to  her  situa- 
tion. 

In  such  an  hour  as  her  friends  thought  not,  the 
Son  of  Man  came  to  take  her  to  himself.  Ten  years' 
residence  in  the  debilitating  climate  of  India  had 
begun  to  weaken  her  strength  in  the  way,  and  for 
the  last  few  months  she  had  been  quite  feeble.  Still 
no  one  supposed  that  the  sorrowful  hour  was  so  near 
at  hand.  On  the  morning  of  the  very  day  she  died, 
she  rode  several  miles,  came  back  cheerful  and 
happy,  and  retired  to  rest  only  a  little  before  the 
usual  time.  But  her  days  were  ended  ;  she  was 
taken  suddenly,  and  left  the  world  so  calmly  and 
quietly,  that  those  sitting  by  could  scarcely  believe 
she  was  gone. 

Her  death  occurred  on  the  evening  of  the  weekly 
missionary  meeting,  and  all  were  present  to  witness 
this  beloved  sister's  departure.      It  was  a    touching 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  \Oj 

scene;  a  little  group  of  Christian  missionaries  assem- 
bled in  a  heathen  land,  to  close  the  eyes  of  one  with 
whom  they  had  often  taken  sweet  counsel,  and  gone 
to  the  house  of  God  in  company.  No  wonder  if  the 
place  became  a  Bochim. — Rev.  J.  L.  Scott. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Freeman. 

Mrs.  Freeman  accompanied  her  husband,  the  Rev. 
J.  E.  Freeman,  to  India  on  his  return  in  185 1.  She 
was  one  of  the  best  missionaries,  as  might  have  been 
expected  from  the  views  given  by  her  friend  and 
pastor,  the  late  Rev.  N.  Murray,  D.D.  :  ''  Mrs.  Free- 
man was  connected  with  some  of  the  best  families 
in  New  Jersey,  and  moved  in  the  very  best  circles  of 
her  native  State.  Agreeable  in  manners,  social, 
intelligent,  warm-hearted,  devotedly  pious,  strong  in 
her  affections,  and  of  firm  health,  she  possessed 
remarkable  fitness  for  missionary  life  in  India.  The 
climate  seemed  adapted  to  her  constitution;  and  with 
scarcely  any  interruption,  she  was  able  to  prosecute 
her  great  work  until  it  was  so  mysteriously  brought 
to  a  close.  No  more  beloved  female  missionary  was 
there  on  the  Indian  field."  She  was  one  of  the  vic- 
tims of  Sepoy  cruelty  at  Cawnpore.  The  letter  to 
her  sisters,  written  a  short  time  before  the  mission- 
ary company  started  from  Futtehgurh  on  their  sad 
voyage,  has  brought  tears  to  many  eyes,  and  evi- 
dences a  spirit  which  would  have  been  held  in  high 
honor  in  any  of  the  martyr  ages  of  the  Church.  Let  it 
be  borne  in  memory,  to  the  praise  of  the  great  grace 
that  was  given  to  this  servant  of  Christ. — -/.  C.  L. 


Io8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

The  following-  is  the  letter  referred  to,  written 
when  the  native  soldiery  at  the  station  w^ere  joining 
in  the  rebellion: 

*'Our  little  church  and  ourselves  will  be  the  first 
attacked,  but  we  are  in  God's  hands  and  we  know 
that  he  reigns.  We  have  no  place  to  flee  to  for  shelter 
but  under  the  covert  of  his  wings  and  there  we  are 
safe.  Not  but  that  he  may  suffer  our  bodies  to  be 
slain ;  and  if  he  does  we  know  that  he  has  wise  rea- 
sons for  it.  I  sometimes  think  our  death  may  do 
more  good  than  we  would  do  in  all  our  lives;  if  so, 
his  will  be  done.  Should  I  be  called  on  to  lay  down 
my  life,  do  not  grieve,  dear  sisters,  that  I  came  here, 
for  most  joyfully  will  I  die  for  him  who  laid  down 
his  life  for  me." 

Rev.  John  B.  French. 

Mr.  French  was  a  native  of  Georgetown,  D.  C., 
and  a  graduate  of  Columbia  College,  D.  C,  and  of 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  He  went  to  Canton, 
China,  in  1846,  and  ranked  among  the  foremost  mis- 
sionaries in  that  country.  His  health  had  been 
seriously  impaired  for  the  last  two  years  of  his  life, 
and  he  was  urged  to  make  a  visit  to  this  country  for 
its  recovery;  but  he  was  unwilling  to  leave  his  work. 
Eventually  his  physician's  advice  became  imperative 
and  he  embarked  with  his  family  early  in  November, 
but  on  the  30th  of  that  month,  1858,  he  was  called  to 
enter  into  his  rest.  He  was  an  accomplished  and  de- 
voted missionary;  an  eloquent  preacher;  a  man 
greatly  esteemed  by  his  brethren  and  deeply  lamented 
by  all  who  knew  him. — Annual  Report^  1859. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  i09 

Rev.  Robert  S.  Fullerton. 

Mr.  Fullerton  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  a  graduate  of 
Athens  College,  Ohio,  and  of  Allegheny  Theological 
Seminary,  and  for  fifteen  years  a  faithful  missionary 
in  India.  He  died  at  Landour,  October  4,  1865,  in 
the  forty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  He  spent  a  short 
time  after  his  arrival  in  India  at  Futtehgurh  and  at 
Mynpurie ;  but  within  a  year  he  was  called  to  Agra, 
to  commence  and  carry  on,  in  company  with  his  wife, 
two  institutions,  a  male  and  a  female  school,  for  the 
East  India  community.  It  was  hoped  that  through 
this  instrumentality  much  would  be  done,  and  that 
in  a  very  direct  way,  for  the  advancement  of  the 
cause  of  missions.  Into  this  effort  for  the  good  of 
India  Mr.  Fullerton  threw  himself  with  all  his  might, 
and  for  a  time  he  had  the  charge  of  both  institutions, 
until  the  arrival  of  the  Rev.  R.  E.  Williams  relieved 
him  of  the  boys'  department.  About  this  time  he 
was  also  called  to  become  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Agra,  which  charge  he  continued  to  hold, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  female  school,  until  the  mutiny 
broke  out  in  1857,  scattering  both  of  them,  and  break- 
ing up  our  mission  at  Agra. 

The  girls'  school,  which  Mr.  Fullerton  managed,  in 
connection  with  his  wife,  continued  for  five  years, 
and  was  very  successful,  both  as  a  school  and  as  a 
means  of  doing  good.  It  did  much  to  elevate  the 
tone  of  Christian  feeling  in  the  East  India  community 
of  this  part  of  the  country,  and  many  of  the  girls 
who  were  educated  there,  we  have  reason  to  believe, 
received  impressions  which  will  never  fade  away.    As 


no  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

pastor  of  the  church,  Mr.  FuUerton  was  most 
laborious  and  successful.  The  church  grew  under 
his  care,  and  many  were  added  to  the  number  of  its 
members. 

His  labors  at  Agra  had  been  mainly  in  English, 
and  he  had,  while  there,  but  little  opportunity  of  pre- 
paring himself  for  preaching  to  the  natives.  This  he 
regretted,  but  circumstances  beyond  his  control  de- 
cided his  course.  When  he  went  to  Futtehgurh,  he 
set  himself  with  remarkable  diligence  to  the  work  of 
learning  to  write  and  preach  in  the  native  language ; 
and  in  a  short  time  he  made  so  much  progress  that 
he  became  a  very  acceptable  preacher.  It  has  often 
been  said  in  this  country,  that  if  a  man  does  not 
learn  the  language  in  the  first  two  or  three  years  of 
his  residence  here,  he  will  never  learn  it.  As  a 
general  rule,  this  is  no  doubt  correct,  but  Mr.  Fuller- 
ton  was  a  remarkable  exception.  His  heart  was 
thoroughly  in  his  work.  He  had  a  good  ear  for  pick- 
ing up  native  words  and  idioms,  and  he  became 
rapidly  a  fluent  and  effective  speaker  to  the  natives  in 
their  own  language. 

As  soon  as  circumstances  would  admit,  Mr.  Fuller- 
ton  recommenced  the  Furrukhabad  High  School, 
which  soon  became  as  large  and  flourishing  as  it  had 
ever  been  before.  He  had  also  charge  of  a  native 
church  in  the  city,  numbering  about  twenty  com- 
municants, and  besides  he  spent  a  good  deal  of  time 
in  preaching  in  the  bazars.  Three  years  passed  on 
— his  hands  and  heart  being  fully  engaged.  The 
charge  of  the  school,  in  which  he  taught  a  great  deal, 
was  particularly  laborious,  and  it  was  probably  this 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  Ill 

labor,  more  than  any  other,  which  first  began  to  break 
him  down.  His  health  failed,  and  it  became  neces- 
sary that  he  should  either  leave  India,  or  take  a  place 
where  he  could  easily  enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  Hills. 
The  Dehra  station,  being  at  that  time  vacant,  he  was 
called  to  it  in  the  early  part  of  1864,  and  here  he 
labored  until  nearly  the  end  of  his  course,  taking  as 
little  advantage  of  his  proximity  to  the  Hills  as  pos- 
sible, and  by  far  too  little  for  the  good  of  his  health. 
Here  a  malignant  disease,  probably  brought  on  by 
his  previous  debilitated  state,  seized  upon  him,  and 
in  about  three  months  he  passed  away  from  among  us. 
His  piety  was  deep-seated,  sincere,  and  founded 
upon  principle.  Every  one  that  knew  him  must  have 
felt  that  he  was  a  man  who  both  loved  his  fellow- 
men  and  feared  God.  And  it  was  a  piety  which  sus- 
tained him  in  the  hour  of  trial.  When  it  was  de- 
cided by  the  doctors  that  his  disease  was  mortal,  he 
said  that  he  had  much  wished  to  see  his  family  settled 
in  America,  and  to  look  once  more  upon  the  face  of 
his  beloved  country,  in  whose  calamities  he  had 
deeply  sympathized,  but  it  was  his  first  desire  that 
the  will  of  the  Lord  should  be  done.  It  was  also  a 
pleasant  idea  that  his  body  should  rest  in  the  land 
where  his  life-work  had  been  accomplished,  and  in 
some  measure  bear  testimony  to  the  truth  which  he 
had  proclaimed.  In  any  event  it  zuas  well,  and  he 
was  entirely  resigned.  He  had  not  those  ecstatic 
feelings  that  some  have  spoken  of,  but  he  knev/ 
whom  he  had  believed,  and  was  sure  that  he  was 
both  able  and  willing  to  save  him.  Frequently,  dur- 
ing the  course  of  his  illness,  and  sometimes  when  he 


112  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

was  suffering  great  pain,  he  said,  "All  is  peace." 
It  was  this  abiding  sense  of  safety,  more  than  any- 
thing else,  though  he  was  naturally  brave,  which 
enabled  him  to  lie  down  calmly,  and  submit  to  fright- 
ful operations — passing  off,  as  quietly  as  an  infant, 
into  a  sleep  from  which  it  was  very  doubtful  whether 
he  would  ever  awaken  in  this  world.  After  the  last 
operation  was  performed,  when  he  evidently  expected 
a  fatal  termination,  he  called  us  to  his  bedside,  and 
said  that  he  must  speak  now  while  he  was  able.  He 
wished  to  say  that  this  was  the  happiest  day  of  his 
life.  He  had  arrived  at  the  land  of  Beulah.  All  was 
bright  and  beautiful,  and  he  had  no  fear  for  what 
was  beyond.  He  was  as  sure  of  the  truth  of  the  re- 
ligion in  which  he  believed  as  he  was  of  his  own  ex- 
istence, and  he  knew  that  Christ  would  save  him. 

One  of  the  m.ost  prominent  traits  in  the  character 
of  our  departed  brother  was  his  geniality.  I  think 
every  one  who  knew  him  will  bear  witness  that  the 
first  thing  in  him  which  would  strike  an  observer  was 
the  tone  of  good  feeling  and  joyousness  which  it  was 
his  habit  to  throw  over  those  with  whom  he  had  in- 
tercourse. He  was  social  in  his  nature — fond  of 
society,  full  of  good  humor  and  ready  wit.  It  was 
this  which  made  him  a  cheerful  and  desirable  com- 
panion, and  attached  all  hearts  to  him.  In  our 
mission  circle  he  was  much  beloved,  and  we  all  feel 
that  we  have  lost  a  very  dear  friend. 

Though  indifferent  in  trifling  matters,  and  exercis- 
ing much  toleration  for  opinions  in  which  he  did  not 
agree,  he  was  very  firm  in  the  maintenance  of  his 
own  principles,  and  in  pursuing  the  course  which  he 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  II 3 

thought  rig-ht.  No  matter  how  yielding  or  com- 
plaisant he  might  be,  touch  him  on  any  of  the  princi- 
ples which  he  held  sacred,  and  you  found  you  had  a 
man  to  deal  with  who  was  as  firm  as  a  rock.  His 
firmness,  however,  was  so  mixed  and  tempered  with 
urbanity  and  toleration,  that  it  never  seriously 
offended,  much  less  was  there  occasion  for  permanent 
alienation  of  feeling. 

His  nature  being  thus  tempered  by  firmness  and 
urbanity,  it  need  hardly  be  added  that  his  treatment 
of  the  natives  of  this  country,  and  especially  of  the 
native  Christians,  was  very  happy.  While  never 
afraid  to  tell  them  their  duty,  he  was  more  than  is 
usual  respectful  and  courteous  to  them.  This  they 
appreciated  as  something  they  do  not  always  receive, 
and  as  a  consequence  he  was  much  beloved  and  re- 
spected by  them. 

I  have  thus  noted  down  one  or  two  of  the  more 
prominent  traits  in  the  character  of  our  departed 
brother,  but  if  I  were  to  attempt  a  full  portraiture,  I 
should  have  to  speak  of  the  admirable  manner  in 
which  he  fulfilled  the  duties  of  a  husband  and  father, 
of  the  wisdom  and  prudence  which  he  brought  with 
him  into  our  missionary  consultations,  of  the  discrimi- 
nation by  which  he  could  detect  those  who  were  at- 
tempting to  deceive,  of  the  forbearance  which  he 
could  exercise  towards  the  erring,  joined  at  the  same 
time  with  much  painstaking  for  their  restoration, 
and  in  a  word  of  his  happy  tact  in  dealing  with  men 
generally. 

We  all  feel  that  we  have  lost  a  much  loved  brother 
in  the  Lord,  a  sincere  friend,  a  valued  missionary,  a 


114  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

bulwark  in  the  Church.  May  we,  and  you  who  read, 
follow  in  the  steps  of  those  who  have  gone  before,  so 
that  at  last  we  may  be  partakers  of  that  eternal  joy 
upon  which  they  have  already  entered  1 — Rev.  J.  L. 
Scott. 

Rev.  S.  R.  Gayley. 

Samuel  R.  Gayley  was  born  at  Magheracrigan, 
near  Strabane,  County  Tyrone,  Ireland,  in  October, 
1828.  From  his  earliest  childhood  he  believed  him- 
self to  have  been  the  subject  of  divine  grace.  He  did 
not  himself  know  a  time  when  he  did  not  love  the 
Saviour.  He  w^as  a  child  of  the  covenant,  blessed 
with  that  priceless  benefit,  a  strictly  rehgious  training 
by  pious  parents.  And  this  training  seems,  without 
any  sudden  or  marked  change  at  any  one  time,  grad- 
ually to  have  attained  its  highest  object.  His  re- 
ligious growth  seems  to  have  been  precisely  that 
indicated  by  our  Lord's  beautiful  figure,  "first  the 
blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear." 

In  1847  ^e  came  to  the  United  States,  graduated  at 
La  Fayette  College  in  1853,  and  at  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  1856.  In  the  Seminary,  the  re- 
marks of  Dr.  Hodge  at  a  conference  decided  him  in 
favor  of  a  personal  engagement  as  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary, a  work  in  which  he  had  always  been  inter- 
ested, and  of  which  he  had  already  thought  much. 
In  the  winter  of  1854-5  he  applied  to  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  ap- 
pointment as  a  missionary,  designating  Northern 
China  as  the  field  of  his  choice.  With  his  wife  he  ar- 
rived at  Shanghai,  on  the  7th  of  February,  1857. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  115 

Mr.  Gayley's  labors  in  Shanghai  were  considerably 
interrupted  by  local  disturbances,  by  the  approach  o£ 
the  Tae  Ping  rebels,  and  especially  towards  the  last 
by  sickness  in  his  person  and  family.  He  succeeded 
well  in  getting  the  dialect  of  the  place,  and  was 
preaching  abundantly  when  an  affection  of  the  throat, 
greatly  aggravated  by  the  dampness  of  the  climate, 
occurred,  by  which  he  was  obliged  very  frequently 
to  desist  from  public  preaching.  The  health  of  him- 
self and  family  constrained  him,  in  April,  1861,  to 
remove  to  Tungchow,  in  the  province  of  Shantung, 
a  locality  which  from  its  high  latitude,  pure  air  and 
sea  breezes  was  thought  likely  to  prove  eminently 
healthful.  The  change  was  decidedly  beneficial  both 
to  Mr.  Gayley  and  his  family.  The  people,  more- 
over, listened  to  the  Gospel  with  marked  attention, 
and  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  several  professed 
their  faith  in  Christ,  amongst  whom  was  Mr.  Gayley's 
teacher,  a  man  of  mind  and  character  who  gives 
promise  of  great  usefulness. 

The  winter  and  spring  of  186 1-2  was  a  very  happy 
period  in  Mr.  Gayley's  missionary  experience.  He 
made  rapid  progress  in  the  Mandarin  dialect,  his 
health  was  excellent,  the  progress  of  the  Gospel  was 
encouraging.  In  connection  with  his  colleagues,  he 
preached  abundantly,  distributing  copies  of  the  Scrip- 
tures to  the  literary  candidates  who  visited  Tung- 
chow, making  tours  frequently  to  the  country  round 
about,  laying  plans  for  prospective  effort,  and  look- 
ing forward  cheerfully  and  confidently,  in  view  of 
the  healthfulness  of  the  station,  to  a  long  life  of  labor 
in  that  the  chosen  field  where  he  delighted  to  think 


Il6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

he  would  spend  and  be  spent  in  the  Master's  service. 
Alas!  God  had  ordered  all  otherwise. 

In  July  he  was  taken  ill,  of  cholera;  the  usual 
remedies  failed  to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  disease, 
and  it  soon  became  evident  that  his  life  was  near  its 
end.  He  had  little  pain  and  was  able  to  converse 
more  or  less  freely  for  several  hours.  During  this 
time  he  gave  precious  testimony  to  the  Gospel  he 
had  preached.  To  Mrs.  Gayley  he  said:  "  My  dear, 
we  have  been  very  happy  together;  God  is  about  to 
part  us.  Don't  worry  about  the  children.  Commit 
yourself  to  him  that  judgeth  righteously."  Again  to 
her,  with  inexpressible  expression  of  surprise  and 
triumph,  "  Is  this  what  they  call  death?"  Mr.  Mills, 
his  brother-in-law,  said  to  him,  "We  prayed  and 
counseled  together  a  great  deal  about  coming  to 
China.  When  you  came  many  of  your  friends 
thought  it  a  great  sacrifice.  Do  you  or  have  you  at  all 
regretted  it  ?"  "Never  for  an  instant,"  was  his  de- 
cided answer.  To  some  of  us  who  stood  near  him  he 
said,  "Brethren,  never  be  afraid  of  death."  Mr. 
Nevius  said,  "Is  the  old  fear  all  removed?"  Mrs. 
Gayley  said,  "You  never  had  any,  had  you  ?"  "Oh, 
yes,"  he  said,  "I  was  afraid  of  death."  Mr.  Nevius 
asked,  ' '  What  new  views  have  you  now  ?"  He  said, 
"It  is  not  dying,  it  is  not  a  cessation,  it  is  just  living 
on.  I  have  no  language  to  express  it."  Mr.  Nevius 
said,  "It  is  the  expanding  of  spiritual  into  eternal 
life  ?"  "Yes,"  he  said  eagerly,  "it's  just  that,"  and 
then,  as  seeing  things  unutterable,  he  said  to  the 
brethren  near,  "I  am  wiser  than  you  are  to-day. 
You  do  not  know  what  is  before  you.     I  know  what 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  11/ 

my  work  is."     He    died    Tuesday,   July    29,   in  the 
thirty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

Those  who  knew  him  in  the  college  and  seminary, 
it  is  confidently  asserted,  thought  him  capable  of 
the  highest  class  of  intellectual  efforts.  There  was 
a  quiet  strength,  the  result  partially  of  severe  and 
long  continued  mental  discipline,  which  could  have 
scarcely  failed  to  make  him  distinguished.  One  of 
the  elements  of  his  strength  was  his  sound  judgment, 
in  which  his  brethren  could  repose  the  utmost  confi- 
dence. To  this  there  was  allied,  in  an  unusually 
felicitous  way,  a  gentleness  and  courtesy  that  made 
him  a  singularly  pleasing  companion.  He  was  a 
thorough  gentleman  in  the  noblest  and  best  sense  of 
the  term.  A  noticeable  feature  in  his  character  was 
his  modesty.  He  had  a  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous, 
and  with  his  best  friends  and  in  his  family  was 
merry  and  full  of  life.  But  his  mirth  was  as  pure 
as  the  air  of  heaven.  His  self-control  was  perhaps 
the  characteristic  which  is  most  memorable.  As  a 
friend  he  w^as  almost  inimitable.  Symmetry  is  the 
one  word  that  expresses  his  character,  as  a  man,  a 
scholar,  a  Christian  and  a  missionary.  If  his  life 
had  been  spared,  it  is  confidently  believed,  he  would 
have  acted  a  distinguished  part.  He  chose  the  posi- 
tion of  a  missionary,  and  he  did  not  regret  the  choice. 
He  labored  not  long  in  the  Master's  vineyard,  long 
enough  however  to  behold  with  a  keenness  of  delight, 
abundantly  compensating  all  the  sacrifice,  some 
precious  souls  saved  by  his  instrumentality  from  the 
abominations  of  heathenism  and  fitted  for  everlasting 
life  and  glory.      If  he  left  behind  him  few  books  or 


Il8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

works,  he  leaves  a  surer  legacy,  the  memory  of  a 
singularly  faultless  character.  He  left  to  the  Chinese 
Christians,  as  they  have  some  of  them  remarked — 
better  than  books — a  living  representation,  rarely  and 
beautifully  complete,  of  the  pure  and  peaceable  re- 
ligion of  Jesus. — Rev.  C.  R.  Mills. 


Mrs.  Joseph  M.  Goheen. 

The  removal  to  a  better  country  of  this  young  and 
much  esteemed  missionary  took  place  January  17, 
1878,  at  Kolapoor,  W.  India. 

She  was  married  in  1875  to  Rev.  Joseph  M.  Goheen, 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Huntingdon,  and  sailed  with 
him  October  30  of  the  same  year  to  Kolapoor.  Soon 
after  her  arrival  in  India,  the  disease  of  which  she 
died  (the  seeds  of  which  she  took  with  her)  was  de- 
veloped. Though  unable  to  do  much  mission  work, 
her  heart  was  in  it,  and  her  life  was  not  in  vain. 
Rev.  J.  J.  Hull,  in  speaking  of  her  departure,  says: 
'^  Her  amiable  disposition  and  sweet  Christian  spirit 
greatly  endeared  her  to  us  all,  and  with  her  cheerful 
patience  in  prolonged  suffering,  and  her  unshaken 
trust,  have  left  a  happy  impression  even  here  among 
a  people  that  know  not  as  yet  the  source  of  her 
strength. "  In  the  early  stages  of  her  sickness  her 
mind  would  turn  home  and  to  the  loved  ones  in  the 
United  States,  but  at  the  last.  Rev.  J.  P.  Graham 
writes,  '*  She  had  no  desire  to  live,  even  to  return  to 
America.  Her  thoughts  were  fixed  on  Christ,  and 
the  friends  who  had  gone  before,  and  she  longed  to 
go  (as  she  herself  would  say),   *  not  to  her  earthly, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I  I9 

but  to  her  heavenly  home.'  Never  was  any  one 
better  prepared  or  more  willing  to  go,  but  we  shall 
miss  her  so  much ;  she  was  so  good  and  pure-minded, 
no  one  could  keep  from  loving  her." — Foreign  Mis- 
sionary,  April,  1878. 

Rev.  Goloknath. 

The  death  of  a  veteran  laborer  in  India  deserves 
mention — that  of  the  Rev.  Goloknath.  the  first  con- 
vert of  our  India  Missions.  He  belonged  to  a  Brah- 
min family,  was  born  in  Bengal  in  18 16,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Free  Church  College  in  Calcutta  imder 
the  care  of  Dr.  Duff.  The  late  Rev.  John  Newton, 
D.D.,  had  much  to  do  with  guiding  this  young  in- 
quirer into  the  light.  He  made  a  public  profession 
of  his  faith  in  1835,  and  at  once  began  to  prepare  for 
the  ministry.  In  1847  he  was  ordained  by  the  Lodi- 
ana  Presbytery  and  assigned  to  the  Jalandhar  station, 
where  he  remained  until  his  death,  August  i,  1891. 
Mr.  Goloknath,  in  addition  to  his  labors  as  preacher 
and  teacher,  wrote  a  nimiber  of  books  and  tracts  in 
the  Urdu  and  Punjabi  languages.  The  three  best 
known  are  TJie  Destroyer  of  Pantheism^  The  Whole 
Duty  of  Man,  and  A  Christian  Inquirer. — Annual 
Report,  1892. 

Mrs.  Goloknath. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Goloknath  was  mentioned  at 
length  in  the  Punjab  Mission  Nezi'S  for  March  (1892). 
She  was  of  Brahmin  family  in  Cashmire,  and  her  hus- 


I20  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

band  has  been  for  about  fifty  years  a  member  of  the 
Lodiana  Mission,  in  which  she  herself  was  the  first 
woman  convert.  She  has  been  styled  ''A  Mother  to 
the  Native  Church  oi  Jalandhur,"  and  the  non-Chris- 
tian population  has  well  often  experienced  her  kind 
help  and  sympathy.  She  was  a  sw^eet  Christian  in  her 
days  of  activity  and  bore  her  long  illness  with  pa- 
tience. Mrs.  Goloknath  was  the  mother  of  thirteen 
children,  of  whom  nine  survive  her,  among  them 
the  Kanwarani  of  Kaparthala  and  her  sister,  Mrs. 
Chattergee,  who  visited  America  two  years  ago. 
—  Woman's  Work  for  IVoman,  June,  1892. 

Rev.  Adolphus  Clemens  Good,  Ph.D. 

The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  was  greatly  shocked 
on  December  21,  by  receiving  a  cable  dispatch  from 
Batanga,  West  Africa,  announcing  the  death  of  this 
noble  missionary,  which  occurred  on  December  13, 
1894.  The  shock  was  all  the  greater  because  in  his 
very  last  letter  to  the  Board  Dr.  Good  had  written  from 
Efulen,  as  follows:  "Neither  Mr.  Kerr  nor  I  have 
ever  had  an  hour's  sickness  here ;  indeed  the  only  de- 
partures I  ever  had  from  perfect  health  have  been  due 
to  bad  food  eaten  on  journeys.  I  have  never  detected 
the  slightest  signs  of  malaria."  The  brief  dispatch 
gave  no  hint  as  to  the  place  or  the  cause  of  his 
death. 

Dr.  Good  was  a  child  of  the  covenant,  the  son  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abram  Good,  and  was  bom  near  Day- 
ton, Armstrong  count}^,  Pa.,  December  19,  1856. 
When  but  a  lad  he  made  a  public  confession  of  his 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  121 

faith  in  Glade  Run  Presbyterian  Church.  He 
received  his  preparatory  training  in  Glade  Run 
Academy  from  1873  to  1876,  was  graduated  from 
Washington  and  Jefferson  College  in  1879,  and  from 
the  Western  Theological  Seminary  in  1882.  His 
degree  of  Ph.  D.  was  given  by  Washington  and  Jef- 
ferson College  in  1890.  In  June,  1882,  he  was 
ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of  Kittanning  as  an 
evangelist,  preparatory  to  sailing  for  Africa,  having 
been  previously  appointed  a  missionary  by  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions.  He  chose  the  Dark  Continent 
as  his  field  of  labor  mainly  because  it  was  a  hard  field 
and  because  few  at  that  time  were  found  willing  to 
enter  it.  He  sailed  for  Africa  September  18,  1882,  and 
on  his  arrival  was  assigned  to  Baraka  Station,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Gaboon  river.  Being  a  man  of  fine 
linguistic  ability,  he  soon  mastered  the  Mpongwe  lan- 
guage, and  ten  months  after  landing  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  the  native  tongue.  He  was  married  June 
21,  1883,  to  Miss  Lydia  B.  Walker,  a  missionary  in 
connection  with  the  mission,  who,  with  a  son  ten 
years  of  age,  survives  him. 

In  January,  1884,  Dr.  Good  was  transferred  to  the 
work  on  the  Ogowe  river,  begun  some  eight  years 
before,  where  his  rare  gifts  for  evangelizing  and 
organizing  found  ample  scope.  With  a  noble  spirit 
of  self-sacrifice,  which  took  no  note  of  the  severe 
physical  and  mental  strain  involved,  he  threw  him- 
self into  every  part  of  the  work  with  characteristic 
energy.  Itinerating  along  the  river  was  his  chief 
delight,  carrying  the  Gospel  to  those  sitting  in  dark- 
ness.    In   this   work   he   was  greatly  blessed.     For 


122  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

several  years  there  was  an  almost  continuous  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit,  and  hundreds  of  converts  from 
heathenism  were  baptized.  Largely  through  his 
instrumentality  the  one  church  existing  in  1884  mul- 
tiplied to  four  before  his  final  removal  from  that  field 
in  1893.  During  his  last  year  or  two  on  the  Ogowe, 
when  burdened  with  the  care  of  the  widely  scattered 
churches,  he  also  revised  the  entire  New  Testament  in 
Mpongwe,  and  the  Hymn  Book  then  in  use,  adding 
quite  a  number  of  hymns  to  the  latter.  During  this 
period  and  also  later.  Dr.  Good  made  some  valuable 
contributions  to  natural  history,  by  sending  many 
choice  specimens  to  Chancellor  Holland  of  the 
Western  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Concerning 
this  the  Chancellor  writes : 

' '  With  the  help  of  friends  and  natives,  he  made  dur- 
ing his  stay  on  the  African  coast,  at  various  times, 
collections  of  the  birds,  animals,  and  especially  of 
the  insects  of  the  region,  which  have  given  him  an 
honored  place  among  the  missionary  explorers  of  the 
century.  We  are  indebted  to  him  for  our  first  knowl- 
edge of  fully  five  hundred  species  of  the  beautiful 
butterflies  and  moths  of  the  Ogowe  Valley  and  the 
region  known  as  Cameroons,  in  which  he  has  latterly 
been  laboring.  When  the  great  collections  he  made 
shall  be  finally  studied  out,  and  all  the  species  deter- 
mined and  named,  it  is  probable  that  he  will  be 
found  to  have  discovered  fully  a  thousand  species 
new  to  science.  This  is  better  work  than  has  been 
done  by  any  other  explorer  of  African  territory  with- 
out exception.  I  am  familiar  with  everything  that 
has  been  written  upon  the  natural  history  of  Africa, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 23 

and  am  certain  that  none  on  African  soil  has  ever 
shown  such  power  ahke  as  a  collector  and  investiga- 
tor as  my  lamented  friend." 

Dr.  Good  also  paid  some  attention  to  ethnolog-y 
and  the  religious  behefs  of  the  tribes  in  West  Africa, 
sending  from  time  to  time  valuable  material  on  these 
subjects. 

In  1889,  because  of  an  attack  of  African  fever 
which  almost  proved  fatal,  Dr.  Good  was  compelled 
to  return  to  the  United  States  on  furlough.  He  had 
so  recuperated  during  the  voyage,  however,  that  on 
reaching  the  Mission  Rooms  he  began  at  once  to  plan 
for  pressing  the  claim  of  Africa  on  the  Church. 
How  grandly  he  did  this,  and  with  what  telling  effect, 
in  churches.  Sabbath-schools,  women's  societies, 
young  people's  societies,  Presbyteries  and  General 
Assembly,  many  still  remember.  It  is  not  invidious 
to  say  that  few  missionaries  from  any  country  have 
so  thrilled  the  Church  and  roused  its  missionary 
enthusiasm.  The  Trinity  Presbyterian  Church,  of 
Montclair,  N.  J.,  was  so  captivated  as  to  pledge  itself 
to  pay,  through  the  Board,  Dr.  Good's  entire  salary, 
although  the  amount  involved  was  far  in  excess  of  its 
previous  gifts.      The  pledge  has  been  faithfully  kept. 

Early  in  1892,  Dr.  Good  rendered  most  valuable 
service  to  the  Board  in  Liberia.  By  special  request 
he  visited  our  mission  in  that  countr}^,  with  much 
toil  and  no  little  risk  to  health,  examining  every 
department  of  the  work  and  rendering  a  full,  clear 
and  discriminating  report,  accompanied  by  important 
suggestions. 

Meanwhile  a  crisis  which  had  long  been  appre- 


124  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

hended  to  our  work  within  French  territory  had 
come.  The  Government,  which  had  never  looked 
with  favor  on  EngUsh-speaking  Protestant  missions, 
insisted  that  the  French  language  and  that  only 
should  be  taught  in  our  schools.  It  was  evident  that 
to  enforce  that  rule  rigidly  would  be  to  break  up  our 
work.  The  missionaries  saw  this,  and  none  more 
keenly  or  regretfully  than  Dr.  Good.  Much  as  he 
loved  the  work  on  the  Ogowe,  he  thought  that  to  con- 
tinue under  such  restrictions  would  be  to  court 
trouble  and  invite  defeat.  At  the  urgent  request  of 
the  mission,  the  Board  finally  transferred  the  work  on 
the  Ogowe  to  the  Societe  des  Missions  Evangeliques 
of  Paris. 

In  anticipation  of  such  an  outcome,  Dr.  Good  had 
for  several  years  been  thinking  of  the  country  behind 
the  coast  belt  at  Batanga,  lying  within  German  terri- 
tory, as  a  promising  field  for  missionary  effort. 
While  on  a  furlough  in  the  United  States,  he  had  with 
the  aid  of  a  German  scholar  read  two  volumes  of 
travel  by  a  German  explorer  whom  he  had  formerly 
met  in  Africa,  and  who  spoke  enthusiastically  of  the 
country  in  the  interior,  both  as  to  its  climate  and  its 
people.  On  the  basis  of  representations  made  by 
Dr.  Good  and  with  the  cordial  approval  of  the  mis- 
sion, the  Board  on  March  21,  1892,  authorized  the 
mission  to  send  him  and  another  missionary  to  ex- 
plore the  region  with  a  view  to  the  opening  of  mission 
w^ork.  In  communicating  this  action  to  the  mission, 
the  secretary  in  charge  urged  the  explorers  to  take 
all  possible  precaution  against  undue  exposure  of 
health  or  life.     To  this  Dr.  Good  replied  with  char- 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  12$ 

acteristic  singleness  of  aim :  "  The  emergency  against 
which  I  sliall  most  carefully  provide  is  failure.''' 
How  well  he  carried  out  this  high  purpose  his  succes- 
sive journeys  to  the  interior,  as  sketched  by  his  own 
pen  in  TJie  CJmrcJi  and  Woman's  Work  bear-  ample 
testimony.  Although  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
Board  and  the  mission  that  he  should  be  accompa- 
nied by  a  fellow-missionary  on  these  journeys,  vari- 
ous things  combined  to  make  this  impracticable. 

Dr.  Good  made  three  distinct  journeys  into  the 
unexplored  interior,  with  no  companions  save  native 
carriers,  the  first  being  preliminary  and  commencing 
July  20,  1892.  Although  he  made  light  of  the  dis- 
comfort encountered  and  of  the  danger  to  which  he 
was  exposed,  no  one  can  read  his  unvarnished  narra- 
tives of  travel  without  being  impressed  with  the 
heroic  spirit  of  the  man.  Think  of  marching  day 
after  day  along  the  beds  and  on  the  edge  of  streams, 
sometimes  through  mud  a  foot  deep,  his  clothing 
constantly  soaked  with  the  dense  foliage  kept  wet  by 
frequent  tropical  showers.  But  these  were  small 
matters  in  his  estimation  compared  with  the  joy  of 
being  able  to  open  a  pathway  for  the  Gospel  to  the 
savage  tribes  of  the  interior.  This  joy  increased  as 
the  range  of  his  vision  widened  and  he  found  the 
Bule  people  to  belong  to  the  great  Fang  family,  and 
to  be  widespread  and  quite  accessible. 

His  first  two  journeys  led  to  the  selection  of  Efu- 
len  as  the  site  of  the  first  interior  station,  after  it 
had  been  visited  by  a  committee  of  the  mission. 
Dr.  Good's  third  journey  of  exploration,  during 
which  he  marched  some  four  hundred  miles,   with 


126  KECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Efulen  as  a  starting-  point,  was  the  most  extensive 
of  the  three.  The  outcome  of  this  journey  was  the 
selection  by  a  committee  of  the  mission  of  Ebolewo'e 
as  a  second  station. 

According-  to  latest  advices,  he  had  planned  still 
another  expedition  for  the  closing-  weeks  of  the  year, 
with  a  view  to  exploring  the  Bene  country,  hoping 
to  find  an  opening  there  for  a  third  mission  station. 
But  just  here  the  curtain  falls  for  the  present. 
Whether  it  was  while  carrying  out  this  purpose  of 
seeking  a  wider  door  for  the  Gospel  that  the  call  to  a 
higher  service  met  him  cannot  be  known  till  letters 
reach  us.  He  was  profoundly  anxious  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  privilege  granted  by  the  German  Gov- 
ernment of  preempting  as  much  of  the  interior  as 
the  mission  could  occupy,  especially  where  the  tribes 
spoke  substantially  the  same  language. 

Dr.  Good  was  well  fitted  by  nature  to  be  a  mission- 
ary explorer  and  pioneer,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
was  admirably  equipped  by  training  and  grace. 
Brave,  wise,  self-sacrificing  and  persevering,  he  laid 
out  his  plans  on  a  comprehensive  scale  in  view  of  all 
available  light,  and  then  pushed  on  with  undaunted 
courage  to  their  realization.  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
faith  and  felt  that  the  Lord  was  with  him.  In  his 
last  letter  to  his  beloved  wife  he  wrote:  "In  all  the 
years  that  are  past  of  my  life,  the  path  has  never 
failed  to  open  before  me  clearly  and  in  good  time." 
The  privations  he  endured  were  great,  but  his  noble 
nature  coimted  them  small  when  compared  with 
those  Mrs.  Good  had  endured  in  consenting  to  return 
to  America  alone  in  broken  health,  while  he  turned 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  12/ 

his  face  once  more  towards  the  interior.  On  July  29, 
1894,  he  wrote  her:  "Kind  words  are  coming  in 
from  all  sides,  until  I  really,  if  I  did  not  know  better, 
might  be  tempted  to  think  that  I  was  something 
of  a  hero.  I  know  two  things,  however;  first,  that 
I  am  very  far  from  being  a  hero ;  and  second,  that  if 
there  is  any  remarkable  heroism  being  displayed  it  is 
by  you,  for  in  this  separation  you  are  having  deci- 
dedly the  worst  of  it."  But  he  was  a  hero,  never- 
theless, his  heroism  being  of  that  type  so  warmly 
commended  by  Stanley  in  speaking  of  Mackay  of 
Uganda  and  his  noble  associates  in  missionary  work. 
He  explored  not  for  self-glory,  but  only  that  he  might 
give  the  Gospel  to  the  perishing  Bule.  With  only  the 
shelter  of  a  rough  bark  house  during  the  intervals  of 
his  explorations,  or  of  his  journeys  to  the  coast,  he 
gave  himself  to  the  study  of  the  language  through 
w^hich  the  Gospel  could  be  commtmicated  to  the  peo- 
ple. He  hastened  to  prepare  a  Bule  Primer,  the  hrst 
book  in  the  language,  which  is  now  passing  through 
the  press  in  New  York.  Writing  to  Mrs.  Good  on 
October  17,  1894,  he  says:  "I  fear  miy  plans  are 
badly  made.  I  have  determined  to  wait  here  until 
the  rains  stop,  which  ought  to  be  in  about  two  or 
three  weeks;  but  now  I  learn  when  the  rains  have 
ceased  here  they  are  heaviest  in  the  interior;  so  I  am 
likely  to  have  a  bad  time  of  it.  But  I  can't  put  off 
this  trip,  for  I  want  to  visit  the  Bene  country  before 
I  revise  any  of  my  translations. 

"  I  have  just  two  chapters  more  of  Luke,  and  then 
I  am  through  with  the  Gospels,  which  is  all  I  have 
planned    to   translate  at  this   time."     Next    day  he 


128  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

wrote :  * '  The  carriers  are  to  start  to-morrow,  so  I 
will  close  this  now.  To-morrow  I  hope  to  finish 
Luke,  and  then  I  am  going  to  stop  literary  work  for 
a  couple  of  months.  I  am  desperately  tired  of  puz- 
zling over  how  to  say  what  there  are  often  no  words 
to  express,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  get  on  the  road 
again. " 

He  was  pushing  exploration  and  translation  with 
all  his  might,  with  the  intention  of  rejoining  his 
family  in  America  next  spring,  intending  while 
there  to  prosecute  his  literary  work  and  see  the  Gos- 
pels, and  possibly  other  parts  of  the  Scriptures, 
through  the  press.  But  God  had  other  plans.  The 
translator's  pen  has  been  laid  down,  the  feet  which 
were  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace  walk  no  longer  in  untrodden  paths,  the  tongue 
which  plead  so  eloquently  for  Africa's  redemption 
lies  silent  in  an  African  grave,  but  the  missionary 
explorer  lives  in  the  immediate  presence  of  his  Lord, 
and  will  continue  to  live  also  in  the  work  so  nobly 
done. 

Dr.  Good  stood  high  in  the  estimation  and  affec- 
tion of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  both  as  a 
Christian  brother  and  as  a  devoted  and  successful 
missionary.  While  recognizing  the  divine  wisdom 
and  love  in  the  severe  dispensation,  it  cannot  but 
express  its  deep  sense  of  the  loss  which  the  Church 
and  the  cause  of  Foreign  Missions  have  sustained. 

Dr.  Good  also  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his 
brethren  in  the  mission  and  gratefully  appreciated 
their  support  and  earnest  cooperation.  His  death  to 
them  will  be  a  personal  bereavement,  while  its  rela- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 29 

tion  to  the  work  in  the  interior  will  appall  them. 
The  cable  dispatch  which  brought  the  sad  tidings  to 
New  York,  contained  also  the  pathetic  appeal  : 
^^  Scud  ivorkcrs  quickly.''  Who  will  respond  by  con- 
secrating their  lives  to  the  Lord  for  Africa  ?  Who 
will  answer  with  means  to  send  and  support  such 
reinforcements  ? — Rev.  John  Gillespie^  D.  D. 

Miss  S.   U.   Goodrich. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  turn  to  the  old  biographies 
for  instances  of  moral  and  Christian  heroism.  Miss 
Goodrich,  who  died  on  May  2,  in  this  city,  has  been 
known  by  a  limited  number  of  persons  as  the  inde- 
fatigable friend  of  the  Chinese,  and  as  a  devoted  mis- 
sionary in  their  service.  The  year  1870  found  her  em- 
ployed as  a  clerk  at  the  Five  Points  House  of  Industry. 
While  thus  engaged  during  the  usual  hours  of  the 
day,  she  devoted  her  evenings  to  assisting  Rev. 
Arthur  Folsom  in  a  school  which  had  been  opened 
for  Chinamen.  His  work  was  suspended  in  the  fol- 
lowing autumn,  as  its  growth  had  not  realized  ex- 
pectations; but  Miss  Goodrich,  unwilling  to  see  the 
evening  school  relinquished,  carried  it  on  for  two 
years  without  compensation.  At  the  expiration  of 
that  time,  however,  she  went  to  her  pastor,  Rev.  Dr. 
Howard  Crosby,  for  counsel,  and  was  advised  to  re- 
linquish her  clerkship  in  the  House  of  Industry,  and 
devote  her  whole  time  to  the  Chinese.  Volunteers  for 
Sunday-school  were  soon  obtained,  and  more  or  less 
assistance  was  given  her  in  the  evening  school. 

In    1878   the   school   was  removed  to   119  White 


130  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

street,  and  a  year  after  it  was  taken  under  the  care 
of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  Miss 
Goodrich  still  continuing  in  charge.  Around  this 
nucleus  of  the  evening  school,  Sunday-schools  for 
Chinamen  were  multiplied  till  over  twenty  are  now 
maintained  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  The  pecu- 
liar sympathy  which  was  felt  by  Miss  Goodrich  for 
the  Chinese,  and  which  was  fully  expressed  not  only 
by  her  gentle  voice,  but  by  a  face  of  rare  benevo- 
lence, constituted  undoubtedly  the  chief  element  of 
her  power  over  them.  In  contrast  with  the  heartless 
and  sometimes  brutal  treatment  which  these  Mongo- 
lians experience  at  the  hands  of  the  masses,  this  one 
teacher  appeared  to  them  as  an  angel  of  mercy. 
Her  instructions  were  always  directed  towards  defi- 
nite spiritual  ends.  Often  would  she  kneel  with  these 
untutored  men  in  prayer  that  they  might  be  led  of 
the  Spirit  of  God. 

Though  results  that  can  be  tabulated  are  not  large, 
yet  scores  of  men,  after  more  or  less  instruction,  and 
fortified  with  the  deep  impressions  which  her  Chris- 
tian character  had  made  upon  them,  have  scattered 
to  all  parts  of  the  earth  as  witnesses  for  her;  and  not 
a  few  have  cherished  a  hope  in  the  salvation  of  Christ. 
Many  touching  expressions  of  gratitude  and  love 
came  to  her  in  her  last  Illness,  and  some  of  the  most 
impressive  scenes  to  be  witnessed  in  her  sick-room 
were  those  in  which  her  devoted  converts  gathered 
at  her  bedside  to  express  their  sympath}^,  and  upon 
taking  their  leave  bowed  down  and  offered  fervent 
prayer  in  her  behalf.  In  our  last  issue  we  alluded  to 
one  of  her  pupils,  who  is  now  employed  as  a  mis- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I3I 

sionary  among  his  countrymen  in  the  island  of 
Mauritius.  His  letter  to  Miss  Goodrich  was  at  the 
same  time  published. — Foreign  Missionary^  July, 
1882. 

Rev.  Nicanor  Gomez. 

Among  the  '^  Letters  from  the  Field  "  will  be  found 
an  account,  given  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Greene,  of  a  furious 
outbreak  of  mob  violence  against  a  Protestant  service 
at  Alanwyo,  Mexico.  Two  of  our  clergymen  were 
seriously  injured.  The  following  supplemental  letter 
records  the  martyr  death  of  one  of  the  two : 

''Mexico,  November  5,  1884. 
' '  Our  worst  fears  have  been  realized  in  the  case  of 
our  good  brother.  Rev.  Nicanor  Gomez.  After  lin- 
gering a  week  in  agony  and  delirium,  he  passed  away 
to  join  the  noble  army  of  the  martyrs.  His  head  was 
fairly  crushed  by  the  terrible  blows  received  from  the 
great  stones  hurled  at  him,  so  that  nothing  less  than 
a  miracle  could  have  effected  his  restoration.  He 
became  delirious  almost  immediately,  and  so  con- 
tinued, with  very  brief  intervals  of  semi-conscious- 
ness, until  the  afternoon  of  last  Sabbath,  when  his 
spirit  took  its  flight.  His  son,  writing  me  under  date 
of  yesterday,  says:  'I  write  to  inform  you  that  on 
the  day  of  God  (November  2),  my  father  rested  from 
his  bodily  afflictions  and  pains,  and  passed  to  the  bet- 
ter life  with  the  martyrs  of  Jesus.  I  ask  you,  in 
my  mother's  behalf  and  that  of  our  large  family,  that 
our  brethren  of  the  capital  may  pray  for  us  especially, 
that  God  will  comfort  us  and  grant  us  the  light  of  his 


132  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Holy  Spirit,  in  order  that  we  may  be  faithful  to  his 
will  and  providence  even  unto  death.'  A  post- 
mortem examination  showed  that  his  skull  had  been 
fractured  in  various  places,  also  that  he  had  received 
a  fatal  wound  in  the  throat.  The  only  wonder  of  his 
physician  was  that  he  had  lived  so  long  after  being 
wounded.  Thus  has  our  work  for  Christ  lost  one 
of  its  most  faithful  representatives.  It  is  now  about 
fifteen  years  since  Mr.  Gomez,  walking  through  the 
plaza  of  Santiago  on  a  market  day,  saw  exposed 
for  sale  some  strange  books  which  attracted  his 
curiosity.  Drawing  near  and  examining  them,  he 
found  them  to  be  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  and  de- 
cided to  buy  one  of  the  volumes.  He  took  it  home, 
and  in  the  evening,  after  the  children  had  all 
retired,  he  read  from  his  new  purchase  to  his  wife. 
This  was  repeated  evening  after  evening,  and  the 
more  they  read  the  more  precious  became  the  book 
to  them.  To  reading  they  added  prayer,  and  then 
they  felt  constrained  to  teach  their  children  what  to 
them  had  proved  the  way  of  life.  Not  satisfied  with 
this,  Mr.  Gomez  invited  one  after  another  of  his  neigh- 
bors to  come  in  and  hear  what  he  should  read  to  him 
from  his  new  book.  In  this  manner  he  very  soon  sur- 
rounded himself  with  a  little  circle  of  truly  Bible 
Christians.  The  next  step  was  to  provide  for  the 
assembling  of  themselves  together  for  simple,  united 
worship,  and  this  was  effected  through  the  kind  offer 
of  Mr.  Gomez  to  fit  up  the  only  comfortable  room  in 
his  humble  dwelling  as  a  chapel,  and  to  move  with 
his  family  into  some  outbuildings  which  could  not 
even  boast  of  a  wall  except  on  one  side,  the  others 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I33 

being  enclosed  by  a  sort  of  picket  fence.  This  offer 
was  made  good,  and  for  all  these  years  that  little 
chapel  has  resounded  Sabbath  by  Sabbath,  and  once 
during  the  week,  with  the  prayers  and  praises  of 
God's  people,  in  number  from  twenty  to  fifty,  the 
services  being  conducted  by  Mr,  Nicanor  Gomez,  or 
by  his  son  Nestor.  For  several  years  both  of  them 
have  been  in  the  service  of  the  mission,  and  the  little 
congregation  at  Capulhuac  has  long  been  reckoned 
among  our  most  faithful  organizations.  Our  mar- 
tyred brother  was  about  sixty  years  of  age.  In  early 
life  he  was  as  noted  for  his  devotion  to  the  Romish 
Church  as  he  became  afterward  for  his  evangelical 
zeal.  Only  a  few  weeks  since  Mr.  Brown  and  myself 
passed  a  Sabbath  with  him  and  administered  the 
Lord's  Supper  to  his  flock.  Very  precious  to  us  now 
is  the  remembrance  of  that  visit,  during  which  he 
told  us  of  his  early  and  later  life,  and  especially  of  his 
experience  at  the  confessional  as  having  destroyed 
his  faith  completely  in  the  Romish  Church.  The  old 
man's  eyes  grew  bright  with  unwonted  fire,  and  moist 
at  the  same  time  with  tears,  as  he  narrated  to  us  the 
way  in  which  he  had  been  led,  and  how  mercifully 
the  Lord  had  permitted  him  to  see  his  family  of  ten 
children  all  in  full  sympathy  with  his  Scriptural 
views  and  worship.  Among  all  our  native  brethren, 
Don  Nicanor  was  conspicuous  for  his  humility,  zeal, 
courage,  energy  and  self-sacrifice.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  chapel  at  first  prepared  and  devoted  to 
Gospel  services,  he  had  been  at  work  for  over  a  year 
erecting,  out  of  his  scanty  resources  ($20  a  month), 
a  more  pretentious  structure,  which  was  nearly  ready 


134  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

for  dedication  at  his  death.  In  all  the  region  round 
about  Capulhuac,  companies  of  simple  Indians  are 
found  in  whose  minds  the  truth  of  God  has  been 
sown  by  the  good  old  man  whose  death  we  now 
deplore.  Over  a  hundred  and  forty  sincere  mourn- 
ers gathered  at  his  funeral  yesterday,  even  many 
Romanists  giving  evidence  of  heartfelt  sorrow  at  the 
loss  of  so  good  a  neighbor  and  so  true  a  friend.  But 
'he,  being  dead,  yet  speaketh.'  Having  baptized 
the  soil  of  Almoloya  with  Christian  blood,  our  breth- 
ren are  determined  to  win  it  for  Christ.  The  most 
palpable  effect  of  all  that  has  happened  next  to  the 
sense  of  personal  bereavement  is  a  renewed  zeal  for 
the  extension  of  the  glorious  Gospel." — Foreign 
Missionary^  December,  1884. 

Rev.  Alexander  J.   Graham. 

Mr.  Graham  received  his  collegiate  and  theological 
education  at  Princeton,  N.  J.,  and  acquitted  himself 
with  high  credit  throughout.  He  was  the  son  of 
pious  parents  and  many  prayers.  At  about  eighteen 
years  of  age,  while  a  student  at  college  and  in  the 
course  of  his  usual  meditations  on  retiring  to  rest,  his 
mind  was  opened  to  tJic  goodness  of  God.  He  became 
a  follower  of  Christ,  engaged  himself  on  the  Lord's 
side  and  was  thenceforth  earnest  in  the  Master's  ser- 
vice. 

In  September,  1849,  an  exigency  at  Spencer  Acad- 
emy among  the  Choctaw  Indians  calling  for  a  laborer, 
his  name  was  mentioned  with  much  confidence  by 
those  equally  acquainted  with  him  and  with  the  field. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I35 

In  accepting  the  appointment  to  this  post  he  had  to 
sacrifice  plans  of  Hfe  cherished  by  himself  and  his 
bereaved  family,  but  he  cheerfully  went  forth  on  the 
self-denying  work  to  which  he  was  called.  All  bore 
testimony  to  his  abundant  labors  and  to  his  signal 
usefulness.  His  heart  soon  became  bound  up  in  the 
forty  Indian  boys  to  whom  he  was  teacher,  protector, 
guardian  and  friend.      But  secret  disease  was  at  work 

upon  him The  physician  advised  his  return 

to  the  East  for  a  surgical  operation.  It  was  the 
sorest  trial  of  his  life,  he  said,  to  leave  the  Indian 
boys  even  for  a  season.  Yet  with  all  his  character- 
istic resolution  he  set  out  on  his  journey  of  2200 
miles  and  pursued  it  amongst  his  increasing  disabih- 
ties,  reaching  home  only  to  greet  his  friends  again 
and  to  depart  this  Life.  His  very  incessant  and  in- 
tense pains  he  bore  without  a  murmur.  As  his 
strength  failed  he  was  told  by  his  physician  that  he 
was  almost  gone.  His  devoted  sister  received  the 
word  with  less  firmness  than  he.  He  begged  her  to 
compose  her  feelings.  ''It  is  all  right,  sister;  let 
God's  w^ill  be  done."  He  was  laboring  a  while  to 
recall  a  favorite  hymn : 

"  Is  God  my  friend  ?    Then  welcome  death." 
So,  devoutly  and  triumphantly,  he  departed,  July  23, 
1850,  in  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  —  The  Pres- 
byterian. 

Rev.  O.  M.  Green. 

Rev.  Oliver  McClean  Green  was  born  at  Dickinson, 
Cumberland   county,    Pa.,    June    22,    1845;    died   at 


136  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Harrisburg-,  Pa.,  November  17,  1882,  aged  thirty- 
seven  years,  four  months,  and  twenty-five  days.  He 
was  the  youngest  son  of  John  T.  Green,  Esq. ,  a  ruling 
elder  of  the  Dickinson  Presbyterian  Church.  His 
preparatory  studies  were  prosecuted  at  Centreville, 
Newville,  and  Chamber sburg.  Pie  entered  Prince- 
ton College  in  August,  1864,  and  graduated  with  the 
second  honors  of  his  class  in  June,  1867.  He  entered 
Princeton  Seminary  October,  1867,  and  remained  till 
January,  1869,  when  he  had  to  return  home  on 
account  of  impaired  health.  In  September,  1869, 
he  resumed  his  studies,  falling  back  one  class  ;  1870 
and  187 1  he  spent  in  Home  Mission  work  at  Olyphant 
and  Peckville,  in  Lackawanna  Presbytery,  where  he 
greatly  endeared  himself  to  the  people. 

Hoping  to  benefit  his  health  by  a  winter  in  the 
South,  he  entered  Columbia  Seminary,  South  Caro- 
lina, in  September,  187 1,  and  graduated  there  the 
following  May.  He  now  fully  decided  to  engage  in 
Foreign  Mission  work  and  offered  himself  to  the 
Board,  but  owing  to  financial  embarrassment,  the 
Board  could  not  send  him.  He  then  supplied  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Alexandria,  Va. ,  for  one  year 
with  great  acceptance,  the  people  becoming  so  much 
attached  to  him,  that  they  followed  his  whole  future 
course  with  great  interest. 

In  1873  he  again  offered  himself  to  the  Board,  and 
being  accepted,  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Carlisle  in  the  Second  Church  of  Carlisle  in  October. 
He  bade  farewell  to  home  and  friends  on  the  15th  of 
October,  and  arrived  in  Japan,  to  which  field  he  had 
been  commissioned,  December  i,  1873. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 37 

He  at  once  began  the  study  of  the  difficult  Japa- 
nese language,  and  made  such  progress  that  in  eleven 
months  he  commenced  preaching  to  the  people.  He 
was  Stated  Clerk  of  Presbytery  and  acted  as  inter- 
preter for  both  Japanese  and  Americans  nearly  all 
the  time  he  was  in  Japan.  He  made  a  number  of 
translations  of  small  Christian  commentaries  and 
tracts.  Being  one  of  our  first  missionaries  to  the 
sunrise  kingdom,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  organ- 
ization of  "  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  Japan," 
which  is  the  organization  through  which  all  the  dif- 
ferent Presbyterian  Churches  operate  in  Japan.  At 
first  he  was  stationed  at  Yokohama,  and  afterward  at 
Tokio.  His  industry,  fidelity  and  amiability  greatly 
endeared  him  to  his  co-laborers  and  the  natives. 

His  incessant  labors  and  a  trying  climate,  however, 
having  impaired  his  naturally  delicate  constitution, 
he  contracted  chronic  rheumatism,  which  compelled 
him  to  relinquish  his  work.  He  left  Japan  in  July, 
1880,  and  returned  home  in  very  feeble  health.  He 
found  the  old  homestead  sadly  changed  by  the 
death  of  his  mother,  which  occurred  December  19, 
1876.  He  visited  among  relatives  and  friends,  but 
was  able  to  make  but  few  public  addresses.  All 
medical  assistance  proved  of  no  avail,  and  after  a 
lingering  sickness  he  passed  to  his  reward  November 
17,  1882.  His  friends  and  his  brethren,  of  Carlisle 
Presbytery,  laid  his  remains  away  tenderly  by  the 
side  of  his  mother,  in  old  Dickinson  churchyard, 
which  is  thus  consecrated  by  the  dust  of  one  of  the 
most  amiable,  gifted  and  devoted  servants  of  Christ. 
His  memory  is  embalmed  in  the  recollection  of  his 


138  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

friends,  and  the  history  of  Christian  missions  in 
Japan. — Rev.  W.  H.  Logan,  Foreign  Missionary^ 
January,  1883. 

Miss  Mary  C.  Greenleaf. 

Miss  Greenleaf  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Ebenezer 
and  Mrs.  Jane  Greenleaf,  of  Newburyport,  Mass. ,  and 
niece  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Dana  of  the  same  city. 
She  was  an  admirable  missionary  am.ong-  the  Chicka- 
saws,  in  the  Indian  Territory,  where  she  died  June 
26,  1 85 7,  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  her  age.  Her 
memoir,  published  by  the  Massachusetts  Sabbath- 
school  Society,  is  an  interesting  book,  describing  a 
beautiful  life  of  piety  and  giving  much  information 
concerning  missionary  work  among  the  Indians. — 
/.  C  L. 

Rev.  William  Hall. 

Mr.  Hall,  who  died  on  the  29th  of  September,  1894, 
was  one  of  five  Presbyterian  ministers,  most  of  whom 
spent  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in  missionary 
work  among  the  Indians  of  Western  New  York. 
Jabez  B.  Hyde,  Asher  Wright,  Asher  Bliss,  Anson 
Gleason  and  William  Hall,  each  in  some  respects  a 
remarkable  character,  wrought  long  and  earnestly 
for  the  welfare  of  the  red  man,  and  each  left  upon 
the  people  among  whom  he  lived  a  distinct  impress 
of  himself. 

The  only  one  of  these  men  at  all  distinguished  as  a 
student  was  the  venerated  Dr.  Asher  Wriofht,  who 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I39 

had  a  philosophical  and  penetrating  intellect,  and 
whose  laborious  work  of  translation  in  the  Seneca 
tongue  remains  to-day  as  a  monument  to  his  industry 
and  devotion. 

The  subject  of  the  present  memoir,  Mr.  Hall,  with 
no  early  advantages  of  liberal  education,  found  him- 
self led  by  the  hand  of  providence  almost  irresistibly, 
at  the  very  opening  of  his  manhood,  into  the  par- 
ticular ministry  in  which  he  spent  his  days. 

He  was  born  September  20,  1808,  and  was  one  of 
eleven  children.  He  always  ascribed  the  formation 
of  his  mind  to  a  godly  mother,  of  whom  he  said, 
"  She  never  cooked  on  the  Sabbath,"  and  taught  him 
at  her  knee  from  about  the  only  books  accessible  at 
the  time,  the  Bible,  the  New  England  Primer,  and 
the  Shorter  Catechism.  He  describes  himself  as 
very  early  in  life  oppressed  with  the  fear  of  divine 
judgment.  His  brothers  and  sisters  were  soon  gath- 
ered into  a  Methodist  **  class  "  formed  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

One  day  while  hoeing  corn  alone  in  the  field,  he 
fell  upon  his  face  in  a  paroxysm  of  fear,  and  cried  to 
God  for  mercy;  but  the  only  peace  he  gained  arose 
from  what  he  described  as  ''  a  bargain  he  made  with 
the  Lord,"  that,  in  consideration  of  his  reading  the 
Scriptures  and  praying  to  God  three  times  a  day, 
and  striving  in  all  things  to  please  him,  the  Lord 
would  "  save  his  soul."  But  he  soon  discovered  that 
although  he  had  thus  been  relieved  of  the  awful  fear 
of  judgment  to  come,  he  was  becoming  self-righteous. 
He  had  not  yet  realized  what  it  was  to  be  new-born 
and  to  live  in  the  sweet  peace  of  those  who  cast 


I40  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

themselves  entirely  into  the  keeping  of  Jesus  and  are 
clothed  in  his  righteousness.  But  he  found  that 
peace  eventually,  and  abode  in  it  through  the  rest  of 
his  days. 

Mr.  Hall's  father  could  give  him  no  better  ad- 
vantages for  education  than  those  of  the  district 
school;  but  the  boy's  mind  was  alert,  and  at  sixteen 
he  became  himself  a  teacher,  turned  aside  now  and 
then  to  more  profitable  employment,  managed  to 
spend  a  few  terms  in  an  academy,  and  so  ten  years 
passed  away. 

In  one  village  where  he  taught  he  had  a  remark- 
able experience.  His  deep  religious  convictions  hav- 
ing led  him  to  gather  some  of  his  pupils  about  him, 
after  school  hours,  for  prayer  and  religious  conversa- 
tion, the  Romanists  of  the  place  arrayed  themselves 
against  him,  and  one  man,  not  a  Romanist,  fearing 
that  his  daughters  would  be  converted  and  join  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  aroused  such  opposition  to  him 
as  to  procure  the  vote  of  a  district  meeting  that  he 
should  leave  his  place,  and  he  did  so. 

This  led  to  an  invitation  that  he  should  go  to  Alle- 
gheny and  take  employment  as  a  catechist.  To  this 
he  acceded,  married  a  lady  in  Silver  Creek,  started 
at  once  for  his  new  field,  and  began  his  work  in  the 
shell  of  a  one-story  house  built  of  rough  boards  and 
timber.  Here  he  fell  at  once  under  the  potent  influ- 
ence of  the  missionaries,  Wright  and  Bliss,  who  laid 
hold  of  him  and  told  him  he  must  be  a  minister.  He 
was  ordained  by  a  council,  and  from  that  point  went 
steadily  on  through  life  at  the  arduous  work  to 
which  he  felt  sure  that  his  Master  had  called  him. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I4I 

Mr.  Hall's  career  from  the  time  he  was  ordained 
was  uneventful.  He  pursued  the  '^  noiseless  tenor 
of  his  way  "  in  comparative  obscurity,  a  quiet,  modest 
man,  with  a  single  aim,  to  point  out  to  the  Senecas 
the  path  of  peace,  industry,  virtue  and  religion,  and 
help  them  to  walk  in  it.  He  was  rarely  seen  at  the 
meetings  of  the  Presbytery,  but  those  who  came  to 
know  him  ever  remembered  him  as  a  wise,  gentle 
and  amiable  man.  To  him  it  would  never  be  said 
that  he  hid  his  Lord's  talent  in  the  earth.  An  over- 
shadowing sense  of  responsibility  never  allowed  him 
to  forget  the  command,  ''  Occupy  till  I  come;"  and 
over  all  the  Reservation  the  memory  of  William  Hall 
will  ever  be  precious. — Rev.  M.  F.  Trippe^  The  Evan- 
gelist. 

Mrs.  William  Hall. 

Mrs.  Emeline  Gaylard  Hall,  who  died  at  West 
Salamanca,  February  17,  1882,  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  her  age,  had  been  connected  with  the  work 
of  the  Seneca  Mission  over  forty-seven  years.  In  the 
year  1834  she  was  married  to  the  Rev.  William  Hall, 
then  a  school-teacher  at  Silver  Creek;  and  soon 
afterwards  they  entered  upon  what  proved  to  be  their 
life  work  among  the  Seneca  Indians.  Nearly  the 
whole  period  of  labor  was  spent  on  the  Allegheny 
reservation. 

Perhaps  no  form  or  department  of  missionary  labor 
involves  greater  self-denial  than  that  which  is  de- 
voted to  the  fragmentary  tribes  of  our  American 
Indians.      The   romance   of    missions,   the    interest 


142  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

growing  out  of  contact  with  strange  civilizations  and 
interesting  foreign  countries,  is  all  wanting  when  one 
settles  down  upon  a  dull  half -cultivated  Indian  reser- 
vation, with  scattered  cabins,  half-cleared  lands  and 
poorly  tilled  fields,  to  live  a  life  of  sympathy  and 
helpfulness  to  the  poor  and  neglected.  The  discour- 
agements which  attend  mission  work  just  beyond  the 
borders  of  our  settlements,  where  the  contact  of  vice 
and  the  ravages  of  whisky  constantly  interpose  their 
influence,  are  perhaps  greater  than  those  encountered 
anywhere  else.  There  is  wanting  the  sympathy  of  a 
flock  of  our  own  people  as  in  the  Home  Mission 
work,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  safe  distance  from 
evil  enjoyed  in  a  secluded  foreign  field. 

In  the  words  of  Rev.  C.  Burgess,  who  has  pre- 
pared a  more  extended  obituary  notice,  ' '  The  work 
to  which  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hall  gave  themselves  de- 
manded a  piety  that  had  nerve  and  sinew,  that  was 
true,  deep,  and  sincere.  And  theirs  was  at  an  early 
day  tested  severely,  not  only  by  various  hindrances, 
but  by  severe  trials,  in  the  destruction  of  their  home 
by  fire  and  in  the  sickness  and  death  which  visited 
the  family  circle.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
symmetry  and  strength  of  Mrs.  Hall's  character  be- 
came more  and  more  apparent  as  the  years  rolled 
on."  ''It  was  not  fitful,"  says  Mr.  Burgess,  "but 
uniform.  The  light  of  her  Christian  example,  shining 
with  great  brightness  through  the  whole  sphere  of  her 
acquaintance,  was  brightest  and  most  radiant  at 
home.  Her  husband  praiseth  her,  and  her  children 
and  grandchildren  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed." — 
Foreign  Missionary^  April,  18S2. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  i43 

Rev.  William  Hamilton. 

Mr.  Hamilton  was  a  native  of  Western  Pennsylva- 
nia. He  received  his  theological  education  in  Alle- 
gheny Seminary,  was  ordained  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Northumberland  in  1837,  and  immediately  left  as  a 
missionary  of  the  Board  to  the  Iowa  Indians.  He 
continued  in  its  service,  laboring  among  this  tribe 
and  the  Omahas  imtil  the  transfer  of  these  Indian 
missions  to  the  Home  Board  in  18S9.  He  died  on 
the  17th  of  September,  1891,  at  Decatur,  Neb.,  in  his 
eighty-first  year.  A  brief  memorial  of  this  devoted 
servant  of  Christ  was  written  by  the  compiler  of  these 
memoirs  and  is  in  his  Hand-book  and  Incidents  of 
Foreign  Missions  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  —  IV.  R. 


Mrs.  William  Hamilton. 

Mrs.  Hamilton,  who  accompanied  her  husband  on 
his  mission  to  the  Iowa  Indians  in  1837,  died  on  the 
29th  of  April,  1868,  at  the  Omaha  Mission,  to  which 
they  had  removed.  ' '  When  told  that  she  could  not 
live  "  (after  receiving  a  severe  injury  from  the  over- 
turning of  a  carriage),  Mr.  Hamilton  writes,  "she 
expressed  entire  resignation  to  the  will  of  God;  she 
had  no  fear  of  death,  and  no  doubt  of  her  interest  in 
Christ.  Thus  she  seems  to  have  returned  to  the 
work  that  she  had  consecrated  her  life  to  more  than 
thirty  years  ago,  only  to  lay  her  body  in  the  mission 
graveyard.  We  received  much  sympathy  from  the 
friends  around  us  and  also  from  the  Indians.     May 


144  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

this  affliction  be  sanctified  to  us  all  is  my  earnest 
prayer." — Record^  June,  1868. 

Mrs.  William  B.  Hamilton. 

The  sudden  tidings  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  W.  B. 
Hamilton,  at  Chinanfoo,  China,  January  13,  1889, 
have  caused  a  severe  shock  not  only  at  the  Mission 
House,  but  in  a  wide  circle  of  friends  of  the  deceased. 
It  seems  but  as  yesterday  that  Mrs.  Hamilton  had 
bidden  adieu  to  a  large  circle  of  friends  assembled  in 
Washington,  Pa.,  and  to  the  nearer  home  circle,  and 
gone  forth  with  bright  hopes  as  a  missionary  of  the 
Board  to  Chinanfoo.  She  had  been  supposed  to  be 
in  the  enjoyment  of  a  fair  degree  of  health  ;  but 
while  on  the  Pacific  her  husband  noticed  with  some 
alarm  the  appearance  of  an  ominous  hectic  flush 
upon  her  cheek.  Soon  after  her  arrival  in  Chinanfoo 
she  suffered  two  or  three  slight  hemorrhages  and 
from  that  time  the  progress  of  her  disease,  commonly 
known  as  quick  consumption,  was  exceedingly  rapid. 
Although  called  so  soon  to  lay  down  her  work,  the 
summons  was  obeyed  without  complaint.  A  sweet 
and  peaceful  spirit  of  reconciliation  and  of  unshaken 
trust  was  given  her  even  to  the  last.  She  had  won 
the  affection  of  the  mission,  and  in  the  hearts  of 
multitudes  who  knew  her  in  her  childhood  and 
youth  her  memory  is  dear.  (Dr.  Coltman,  who 
watched  over  her  to  the  last,  says,  '*  I  have  witnessed 
many  death-beds  of  Christians  and  others,  but  never 
such  a  happy  one  as  hers.  Death  was  robbed  of  his 
sting.") — CJiurcJi  at  Home  and  Abroad^  May,  1889. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I45 

Rev.  Andrew  P.  Happer,  D.D.,  M.D. 

The  name  of  Dr.  Happer  has  been  associated  with 
missions  in  China  for  the  last  fifty  years.  He  was 
born  in  Monongahela  City,  Pa.,  October  20,  18 18, 
and  died  at  Wooster,  Ohio,  October  27,  1894.  The 
treaty  of  Nanking,  of  August,  1842,  which  opened 
five  ports  of  China  to  commerce  and  the  Gospel,  gave 
enhanced  interest  to  the  Presbyterian  Board's  mis- 
sions in  that  empire  and  the  next  year  special  funds 
were  contributed  for  their  enlargement. 

Andrew  Patton  Happer,  then  a  graduate  of  Jeffer- 
son College,  having  completed  his  theological  course 
at  Allegheny,  was  studying  medicine  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  D.  in  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania.  In  1844  he  was  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Ohio,  and  on  the  2  2d  of  June  of  that 
year  sailed  from  New  York  for  Canton  in  company 
with  five  other  missionaries  of  the  Board,  who  were 
destined  for  more  northern  ports,  and  arrived  at 
Macao  on  the  2  2d  of  October. 

As  no  house  could  be  rented  in  Canton  for  the  res- 
idence of  foreigners  by  reason  of  local  prejudice,  he 
w^as  compelled  to  remain  at  Macao  over  two  years 
''without  Christian  society  or  sympathy  or  friend- 
ship." Here  he  prosecuted  the  study  of  the  Ian-- 
guage  and  established  a  boarding  school  for  Chinese 
boys.  Eleven  of  these  were  graduated  from  his 
training  school  in  Canton  after  eight  years'  Christian 
instruction. 

Late  in  the  year  1846  he  was  joined  by  the  Rev. 
William  and  Mrs.  Speer  and  Rev.  John  B.  French, 


146  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

and  a  few  months  later  the  mission  succeeded  in 
entering  and  establishing  itself  in  Canton.  But  not 
all.  In  April  the  remains  of  Mrs.  Cornelia  Speer 
found  a  resting  place  in  Macao  beside  those  of  Dr. 
Robert  Morrison. 

On  the  nth  of  November,  1847,  Dr.  Happer  mar- 
ried Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dyer  Ball,  of  the 
American  Board,  who  became  the  mother  of  his  four 
daughters,  who,  under  appointment  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Board,  were  at  times  his  co-laborers  in  the  field ; 
also  of  two  sons,  one  of  whom  ministered  to  him  in 
his  last  hours. 

The  dispensary  and  practice  of  the  physician 
proved  a  wedge-like  instrument  for  opening  the  way 
for  more  direct  mission  work.  "Patients  come  to 
me,"  says  he,  "from  all  the  surrounding  country,  as 
well  as  from  this  great  city.  Some  have  come  a  dis- 
tance of  three,  four  and  even  five  days'  journe}^  to 
seek  here  medical  aid."  Of  the  abundant  labors  of 
Dr.  Happer  during  the  first  ten  years  of  his  life  in 
China,  his  colleague.  Dr.  Kerr,  near  the  end  of  that 
period,  thus  writes:  "The  instruction  and  superin- 
tendence of  thirty  boys  in  the  boarding  school  and 
as  many  in  the  day  school,  preaching  every  other 
day  and  twice  on  the  Sabbath,  prescribing  on  every 
weekday,  for  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty 
patients,  impose  on  Dr.  Happer  labor  for  which 
few  men  would  be  equal,  but  which  his  desire  for  the 
welfare  of  this  people  has  enabled  him  to  perform 
willingly  and  zealously." 

Mrs.  Happer's  health  gave  way  in  1854,  so  as  to 
make  a  change  necessar}^,  and  as  Dr.  Kerr  and  Mr. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I47 

Preston  had  arrived  to  reinforce  the  mission,  Dr. 
Happer  embarked  with  his  family  for  the  United 
States  in  December  of  that  year.  His  last  mission- 
ary act  before  leaving  was  the  baptism  of  one  whom 
he  calls  "a  son  begotten  and  beloved  in  the  Gospel 
— the  first  fruits  of  my  labors  among  the  Chinese. 
After  ten  years'  waiting,  this  sheaf  was  gathered  with 
great  joy."  During  a  long  detention  for  the  same 
cause  that  had  brought  him  home,  Canton  had  been 
bombarded  and  captured  by  British  and  French  war 
ships — miles  of  houses  had  been  destroyed,  and 
among  them  all  the  mission  premises. 

On  Dr.  Happer's  return  to  the  field  in  1859,  he 
found  the  brethren,  who  before  the  conflict  had 
retreated  to  Macao,  reestablished  in  Canton  with 
better  accommodations  than  those  destroyed,  and 
among  a  people  whose  haughtiness  had  been  brought 
down  by  the  severe  discipline  they  had  undergone. 
Medical  and  hospital  practice  was  resumed,  the  dis- 
banded training  school  reopened,  and  evangelistic 
labors  were  more  encouraging  than  before. 

In  1862,  the  first  Presbyterian  church  was  organ- 
ized with  seven  native  members,  and  he  became  its 
pastor  and  continued  such  until  his  direct  mission 
work  was  closed,  gathering  into  that  fold  some  five 
hundred  converts.  He  detached  members  as  colo- 
nies to  form  nine  other  churches,  and  the  member- 
ship last  reported  in  them  all  is  more  than  double 
the  number  he  had  baptized.  But  no  computation 
can  adequately  state  the  widening  influence  through 
church  and  school  of  a  single  missionary.  His  col- 
leagues, as  from  time  to  time  they  joined  him,  were 


148  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

all  helpers  together  in  the  Master's  work  and  sharers 
in  its  success. 

His  boarding  or  training  school  afforded  him  the 
most  favorable  opportunity  of  securing  evangelistic 
results.  He  names  the  Epistle  of  Paul  to  the 
Romans,  with  Hodge's  notes  as  a  text-book  for  drill- 
ing his  boys,  and  adds :  ' '  The  utter  hopelessness  of 
their  condition  as  sinners,  and  the  heinousness  of 
their  sins  and  the  freeness  and  preciousness  of  the 
Gospel  were  tenderly  and  earnestly  pressed  upon 
their  attention. "  Such  sowing  produced  fruitage,  and 
so  he  reports,  in  January,  1875,  eighty-six  baptisms  in 
the  twenty-six  preceding  months. 

In  December,  1865,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Happer 
departed  this  life  in  great  peace  and  a  suitable  provi- 
sion for  his  motherless  children  required  that  the 
father  should  bring  them  to  America.  In  October, 
1869,  he  returned  to  China,  having  on  the  6th  of  that 
month  married  Miss  A.  L.  Elliott,  who  for  twenty 
years  had  been  a  teacher  in  Western  Pennsylvania. 
Four  years  later  he  writes:  *^  My  wife  is  not,  for  the 
Lord  took  her.  She  rejoiced  that  she  was  permitted 
to  come  to  China,  and  she  saw  here  blessed  results  in 
answer  to  her  prayers. "  Dr.  Happer's  third  marriage 
was  on  March  18,  1875,  to  Miss  Hannah  J.  Shaw,  a 
member  of  the  mission,  who  survives  him. 

It  was  not  until  after  fourteen  years  of  continuous 
labor  that  he  consented  to  another  furlough,  and  the 
year  1884  may  be  regarded  as  the  closing  one  of  his 
missionary  life.  As  a  member  of  the  Committee  for 
the  Revision  of  the  Culbertson  &  Bridgeman  Ver- 
sion of  the  Bible,  and  as  a  translator  with  others  of 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I49 

the  New  Testament  into  the  vernacular,  he  was 
making  good  progress.  But  these,  with  his  other 
engagements,  were  making  inroads  upon  his  physical 
strength,  and  having  sought  in  vain  restoration  of 
health  in  a  visit  to  Japan,  he  was  constrained  to  ask 
leave  of  absence.      He  came  home,  but  not  to  rest. 

He  had  seen  his  training-school  graduates  scattered 
among  some  of  the  cities  of  the  empire,  and  exert- 
ing there,  as  in  their  home,  a  leavening  influence, 
and  his  ideal  in  that  line  of  work  was  a  permanently- 
endowed  Chinese  Christian  College.  To  secure  such 
an  endowment  he  came  to  New  York,  occupied  a 
room  in  the  Mission  House,  and  for  several  weeks 
was  engaged  in  correspondence  for  securing  the 
desired  funds.  Success  crowned  his  efforts,  and  over 
$100,000  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  trustees  in  New 
York.  The  Chinese  College  was  inaugurated  on 
paper  and  he  was  made  the  first  President.  Mrs. 
Happer,  who  had  rendered  conspicuous  and  efficient 
service  in  woman's  mission  circles  during  her  sojourn 
here  and  for  whom  there  is  now  a  wide  sympathy  in 
her  great  affliction,  went  back  with  her  husband 
to  China.  For  two  years  they  labored  together, 
organizing  and  instructing — their  chief  hindrance 
being  the  great  difficulty  of  obtaining  suitable  build- 
ings. Mrs.  Happer's  health  now  failed,  compelling 
her  return  home.  Her  husband  followed  a  few 
months  later,  mainly  from  the  same  cause,  resigning 
the  Presidency  of  the  college  to  its  Board  of  Trus- 
tees. They  retired  to  their  common  home  in  West- 
ern Pennsylvania,  among  kindred  and  the  associa- 
tions of  their  early  days.      Latterly  they  removed  to 


150  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

Wooster,  whence  the  great  soul  of  this  busy  man 
entered  into  the  joy  of  his  Lord.  "  Until  the  last 
his  mind  was  keenly  alive  to  the  great  world  move- 
ments which  affected  the  work  of  missions  and  the 
progress  of  Christ's  kingdom." 

The  testimony  of  the  Foreign  Board  on  closing  its 
official  relations  to  this  pioneer  brother,  as  expressed 
in  the  Fifty-fourth  Annual  Report,  may  appropriately 
close  this  memorial:  "During  all  his  missionary 
career.  Dr.  Happer  has  been  widely  known  for  his 
scholarly  tendencies,  by  his  broad  views  of  the 
whole  missionary  problem,  his  thorough  knowledge 
of  China  and  its  wants,  his  intelligent  foresight 
along  all  the  lines  of  progress  and  his  comprehensive 
grasp  of  the  whole  missionary  interest,  and  this  not 
only  with  respect  to  China,  but  the  whole  heathen 
world. " —  Williain  Rankin. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  B.  Happer. 

Mrs.  Happer,  wife  of  Rev.  Andrew  P.  Happer, 
D.D.,  was  born  in  Florida,  October  24,  1829.  Her 
father.  Rev.  Dyer  Ball,  M.D.,  went  to  China  as  a 
missionary  of  the  American  Board  in  1841  ;  his 
daughters,  afterwards  Mrs.  Happer  and  Mrs.  French, 
acquired  by  this  means  an  early  acquaintance  with 
the  Chinese  people  and  their  language.  Of  Mrs. 
Happer's  great  worth  in  all  the  relations  of  life  and 
as  a  missionary,  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Preston  thus  speaks, 
paying  a  just  and  beautiful  tribute  to  her  memory, 
writing  at  Canton,  December  29,  1865: 

"Mrs.  Happer  fell  asleep  in.  Jesus  this  morning. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  15I 

suddenly.  Although  we  have  been  expecting  the 
tidings  many  days,  it  came  at  last,  as  is  often  the 
case,  at  an  hour  we  did  not  look  for  it,  and  to  herself 
and  family  it  was  no  less  so.  The  prevailing  feeling 
is — she  is  at  rest.  It  is  well  with  her,  but  what  a 
loss  have  we  a.11  sustained,  her  family,  the  mission, 
the  community,  the  Chinese  children  and  the  Chinese 
women !  She  had  a  most  loving  and  fervent  spirit, 
engaged  in  the  Master's  service.  She  was  earnest, 
active,  and  laborious  in  the  interest  of  her  family, 
and  of  the  Chinese,  with  whom  she  had  a  large 
acquaintance.  Having  learned  the  language  in 
youth,  and  being  brought  up  among  the  Chinese, 
she  was  well  acquainted  with  customs  and  modes  of 
social  intercourse.  She  was  able  also  to  sympathize 
with  the  people  and  to  gain  their  affections  to  a 
remarkable  degree.  There  was  in  her  a  happy  com- 
bination of  qualities,  by  nature  and  by  grace,  fitting 
her  for  the  missionary  work ;  and  although  her  health 
was  feeble,  she  gave  herself  no  rest.  She  was 
always  intensely  active  in  varied  works  of  love.  We 
shall  not  see  her  like  again.  How  mysterious  that 
she  should  be  taken  so  early  from  her  family  and  the 
missionary  work !  May  God  bless  this  most  trying 
dispensation!  The  funeral  services  are  to  be  held 
to-morrow,  and  I  am  to  take  charge  of  the  services 
in  Chinese.  I  trust  the  influence  of  this  sad  bereave- 
ment may  be  of  lasting  benefit  to  many." — Record^ 
April,  1866. 

A  biographical  sketch  of  this  excellent  Christian 
woman  may  be  found  in  the  Foreign  Missionary^ 
August,  1866.—/.  C.  L. 


is?  necrological  record 

Mrs.  Andrew  P,  (Elliott)   Harper. 

Mrs.  Happer  accompanied  her  husband,  Dr.  Hap- 
per,  on  his  return  to  China  in  1869,  from  a  visit  to 
the  United  States.  She  died  at  Canton,  October  10, 
1873.  Mr.  Preston  writes :  "  It  is  by  no  means  unex- 
pected. She  has  suffered  much  and  is  at  rest. 
Peacefully  she  passed  away  and  we  cannot  mourn  as 
those  without  hope,  for  her  trust  was  in  her  Saviour 
and  she  has  gone  to  him." — Foreign  Missionary^ 
December,  1873. 

The  Record^  of  April,  1874,  contains  a  brief  memoir 
of  this  devoted  lady  :  "She  rejoiced  that  she  was 
permitted  to  come  to  China,  and  she  saw  here  blessed 
results  in  answer  to  her  prayers.  In  the  precious 
work  of  grace  in  our  midst  she  was  rejoiced  by  see- 
ing those  who  had  been  the  special  subject  of  her 
prayers  converted  to  God. " 

Mr.  Simon  Harrison. 

Letters  from  Monrovia  report,  as  we  regret  to 
learn,  the  death  of  Mr.  Harrison,  on  the  7th  of 
November,  1872,  from  dropsy,  after  long  suffering 
patiently  borne.  Mr.  Harrison's  name  first  appeared 
in  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Board  in  1855  and 
1856,  when  he  was  spoken  of  "as  an  aged  colored 
man  and  licentiate  preacher  who  formerly  lived  in 
the  Choctaw  nation  as  a  slave,  but  was  liberated  a 
few  years  since  with  a  view  to  his  going  to  Liberia 
as  a  religious  teacher."  The  excellent  missionaries 
to  the  Choctaws,  Drs.  Kingsbury  and  Byington,  took 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 53 

a  warm  interest  in  his  welfare  as  long  as  they  lived, 
and  he  has  now  no  doubt  rejoined  them  in  the  Savi- 
our's presence.  He  was  a  sincere  follower  of  Christ 
and  desirous  of  doing  good  among  men. — Record^ 
March,   1873. 

Rev.  Alexander  Henry. 

Rev.  Alexander  Henry,  then  a  student  in  Danville 
Theological  Seminary,  made  application  to  the  Exec- 
utive Committee  in  December,  i860,  to  be  sent  as  a 
missionary  the  following  year.  Owing  to  the  civil 
war,  when  Mr.  Henry  was  ready  to  embark  for  his 
field,  the  Committee  were  constrained  to  defer  send- 
ing him.  This  led  him  to  take  charge  of  a  church  in 
Kentucky,  where  he  labored  until  1863,  when  he 
sailed  in  August  for  India  and  arrived  in  January, 
1864.  He  was  stationed  at  Lodiana  until  1867,  when 
he  was  transferred  to  Lahore,  where  he  remained  till 
his  death. 

On  Sabbath  evening,  August  15,  1869,  he  preached 
in  the  chapel  at  Lahore  with  great  fervor.  Next 
morning,  not  feeling  well,  he  did  not  resume  his 
duties  in  the  school.  On  the  return  of  Rev.  C.  B. 
Newton  from  the  school  he  found  him  quite  ill  of 
cholera.  A  physician  was  immediately  called  but  all 
his  skill  was  in  vain  and  before  two  o'clock  on  that  day 
he  entered  into  rest.  He  was  a  noble  worker,  an 
earnest  Christian,  and  a  self-denying  man,  and  is 
greatly  mourned.  He  leaves  a  widow  and  six  chil- 
dren. One  of  his  brethren  writes:  "What  will  be- 
come of  our  poor  mission  if  the  Lord  thus  deals  with 


154  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

US  ?  Oh,  that  he  might  raise  others  of  a  kindred 
spirit  with  Brother  Henry  and  send  them  to  the 
rescue!" — Foreign  Missionary^  November,  1869. 

John  W.  Heron,  M.D. 

The  death  of  Dr.  J.  W.  Heron,  of  Korea,  of  dys- 
entery, August  I,  1890,  brings  a  serious  shock  to  the 
officers  of  the  Board  and  to  many  friends.  Dr. 
Heron  had  long  been  conscious  of  overwork  and  of 
a  severe  strain  upon  his  strength,  and  was  planning 
to  secure,  if  possible,  a  furlough  as  soon  as  some 
one  should  be  found  to  take  his  place.  He  was 
appointed  to  the  Korean  Mission  in  1885,  and  from 
the  first  gave  promise  of  medical  skill  and  of  a  strong 
and  vigorous  missionary  work.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
well-known  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and 
leaves  a  mother  whose  strong  faith  and  zeal  conse- 
crated him  long  ago  to  the  mission  work  and  who 
but  a  short  time  before  his  death  declared  that  he 
was  in  just  the  place  where  she  would  have  wished 
him  to  have  been. 

For  a  time  Dr.  Heron  was  associated  with  Dr.  H. 
N.  Allen  in  the  charge  of  the  government  hospital 
and  other  medical  work  in  Seoul,  and  upon  the 
appointment  of  the  latter  by  the  king  of  Korea  as 
interpreter  and  adviser  of  the  Korean  legation, 
which  was  sent  to  Washington  in  18S7,  Dr.  Heron 
took  full  charge  of  the  work,  and  from  that  time  on 
had  borne  a  heavy  burden.  He  had  won  the  confi- 
dence of  the  foreign  community  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  had  a  large   practice,    the  avails  of  which 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 55 

were  handed  over  to  the  treasury  of  the  mission. 
He  leaves  a  young-  wife  and  two  children  to  mourn 
his  loss,  besides  a  mother,  brother  and  sisters  in  this 
country.  He  was  ready  to  answer  what  he  considered 
a  call  of  duty  to  go  abroad  in  the  service  of  Christ  and 
humanity.  He  has  rendered  a  faithful  stewardship, 
and  while  still  in  his  youth  he  has  been  called  to  lay 
down  his  work  and  receive  his  reward. — Cluu^ch  at 
Home  and  Abroad^  September,  1890. 

Note. — Dr.  Heron  was  born  in  England,  June  15, 
1856.  In  1870  the  family  settled  in  East  Tennessee. 
A  touching  memorial  of  him,  by  his  associate  mis- 
sionar}^,  Rev.  D.  L.  Gifford,  appears  in  October 
CJmrcJi^  1890. 

Rev.  Amos  Herring. 

''We  have  to  report  with  regret  the  death  of  the 
Rev.  Amos  Herring,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1873,  ^.t 
Buchanan,  Liberia,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  greatly  respected  as  an  exemplary,  earnest, 
useful  minister  of  the  Gospel." — Record^  October, 
1873. 

Mrs.  Mary  L.  Herron. 

"We  learn  with  great  regret  that  Mrs.  Herron, 
wife  of  Rev.  David  Herron,  of  Dehra,  India,  was 
called  from  this  life  on  the  25th  of  November,  1863. 
Her  removal  is  a  great  loss,  not  only  to  her  immedi- 
ate family  but  to  the  inissionary  work  in  which  she 
was  eminently  devoted  and  useful.      The  Christian 


156  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

girls'  school  at  Dehra  is  indebted  to  her  chiefly  for 
its  existence  and  success,  and  her  influence  was  most 
happily  exerted  in  other  ways  for  the  benefit  of 
native  women  and  their  daughters.  Mr.  Herron  and 
his  four  children  will  receive  the  deep  sympathy  of 
many  Christian  friends  in  this  bereavement." — 
Record^  March,  1864. 

**Dear  Mrs.  Herron  was  a  noble  woman.  She 
was  endowed  with  an  excellent  understanding  by 
nature,  which  she  had  taken  great  care  to  cultivate, 
and  this,  blended  with  her  piety  and  industry,  rendered 

her  a  most  eflicient  missionary She  has  fallen 

at  her  post.  Her  remains  rest  upon  the  scene  of  her 
labors — one  of  the  most  beautiful  valleys  in  the  world 
[Valley  of  the  Doon].  Her  grave  will  be  watched 
over  for  long  years  to  come  by  those  for  whose  good 
she  labored,  and  when  the  last  trump  shall  sound  she 
will  rise  with  them  to  receive  the  plaudit,  *  Well  done, 
good  and  faithful  servant.'  " — Rev.  R.  S.  Fullcrton. 

Mrs.   David  Herron  (2). 

Mrs.  David  Herron  sailed  with  her  husband  for 
India  on  his  return  from  a  visit  to  this  country  in 
January,  1868,  and  died  at  Dehra,  January  13,  1874. 
Though  only  a  few  years  in  that  country,  she  became 
identified  with  the  female  school  at  Dehra  on  her 
arrival  and  was  enabled  to  take  much  of  the  over- 
sight upon  herself.  Many  will  feel  her  loss.  ''  You 
will  be  grieved,"  writes  one,  ''to  learn  that  Mrs. 
Herron  is  with  us  no  longer.  She  was  taken  with 
inflammation  of  the  bowels  last  Sabbath,  January  11, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 57 

and  after  great  suffering  passed  peacefully  away  on 
the  morning  of  the  13th,  to  be  forever  with  the  Lord. 
During  all  her  dreadful  agony  she  showed  the  most 
wonderful  patience.  Early  on  Monday  morning  she 
said,  '  I  have  had  a  night  of  agony,  but  the  Saviour 
has  been  very  near  and  very  precious.'  About  an 
hour  before  her  death  Miss  Nelson  repeated  the 
hymn,  '  How  Firm  a  Foundation,'  for  her,  and  after 
each  stanza  she  exclaimed,  '  Oh,  how  full !  How 
free !  How  precious ! '  " — Foreign  Missionary^  April, 
1874. 

Mary  K.  Hesser. 

Miss  Mary  K.  Hesser,  of  our  Western  Japan  Mis- 
sion, who  had  returned  to  the  United  States  in  the 
spring  for  surgical  treatment,  died  in  the  hospital  at 
Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  on  September  i,  1894.  Two 
years  before  Miss  Hesser  had  passed  successfully 
through  a  severe  crisis  and  was  pronounced  by  her 
physician  able  to  resume  her  missionary  work. 

Scarcely  had  she  entered  upon  it  again,  however, 
when  serious  symptoms  rapidly  developed,  and  it 
was  decided  that  she  must  return  without  delay  to 
the  United  States  for  treatment.  Up  to  within  a  few 
hours  of  her  death,  an  operation  which  had  been  per- 
formed seemed  entirely  successful,  but  a  sudden  com- 
plication arose  which  no  human  skill  could  control. 

Miss  Hesser  went  to  Japan  under  commission  of 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in  1882.  The  Rev. 
Charles  M.  Fisher,  for  a  number  of  years  a  member 
of  the  same  mission,  writes  :   "  Miss  Hesser  founded 


158  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  Kanazawa  Girls'  School,  and  gave  ten  years  of 
most  efficient  service  to  it,  making  it  one  of  the 
strong  missionary  agencies  on  the  west  coast  of 
Japan.  All  who  knew  her  admired  her  zeal  and 
devotion  to  her  work  and  her  wonderful  tact  in  deal- 
ing with  the  missionary  problems  in  that  work.  She 
very  soon  acquired  a  fluent  use  of  the  language,  and, 
outside  of  her  school  duties,  did  much  in  pointing 
the  Japanese  women  to  Christ."  It  was  the  earnest 
desire  of  Miss  Hesser,  and  her  constant  prayer,  that 
she  might  be  permitted  to  return  to  her  "dear  girls," 
as  she  was  wont  to  call  her  pupils.  Her  last  words, 
as  she  left  the  house  of  a  friend  to  enter  the  hospital, 
were,  "  I  am  in  my  Father's  hands."  To-day  she  is 
in  her  Father's  house,  the  service  on  earth  ended, 
that  in  heaven  begun. — Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^ 
November,  1894. 

Mrs.  J.  T.  Houston. 

Rev.  James  T.  Houston  and  wife  sailed  for  Brazil 
in  November,  1874,  and  were  stationed  first  at  Bahia 
and  afterwards  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Returning  home  in  1880,  with  impaired  health, 
Mrs.  Houston  died  at  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  March  12, 
1 88 1.  She  was  an  efficient  worker,  much  beloved  in 
the  mission  circle  as  well  as  by  numerous  friends  at 
home  ;  and  the  highest  eulogy  which  can  be  pro- 
nounced upon  her  is  that  which  our  Saviour  once 
uttered  when  he  said  of  a  faithful  one,  '*  She  hath 
done  what  she  could." — Foreign  Missionary^  May, 
1881. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  1 59 

Rev.  James  J.  Hull. 

Mr.  Hull  died  at  Suffolk,  Va.,  March  8,  1881.  He 
was  born  in  Columbiana  county,  O.,  a  g-raduate  of 
the  Western  Theological  Seminary  at  Allegheny  in 
1872,  and  in  October,  the  same  year,  went  to  Kolha- 
pur,  India,  in  company  with  his  classmate.  Rev. 
Joseph  P.  Graham.  A  few  years  later  he  married 
Annie,  daughter  of  Rev.  James  V.  McGinnis,  of 
Shade  Gap,  Pa.  Mr.  Hull  was  one  of  the  ablest 
and  most  devoted  missionaries  of  our  India  missions. 
He  was  characterized  by  fine  intellectual  qualities, 
calm  judgment,  charitableness  and  prudence. 
Though  he  was  permitted  to  labor  but  little  over  six 
years,  he  left  a  valuable  impress  upon  the  mission  and 
upon  the  native  church.  For  many  months  he 
struggled  on  manfully  in  his  work  in  spite  of  the 
insidious  progress  of  disease.  He  seemed  conscious 
that  his  time  was  short  and  was  only  anxious  to 
accomplish  as  much  as  possible  before  being  com- 
pelled to  lay  down  his  armor. — Foreign  Missionary^ 
May,  1 88 1. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Ibanez. 

Mr.  Ibanez,  who  died  in  1875,  was  a  native  Chilian, 
partly  educated  in  California,  and  for  four  years  a 
missionary  of  the  Board  at  Santiago.  He  imited 
with  a  Presbyterian  church  in  California,  and  com- 
menced studying  in  the  hope  of  preaching  the  truth 
to  his  countrymen  in  Chili,  impaired  health  caused 
him  to  desist,  but,  writes  Dr.  Trumbull,  of  Valparaiso, 


l6o  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

''after  returning  hither  he  united  with  my  church, 
and  later  on  resolved  to  make  another  attempt,  com- 
mencing his  studies  with  me.  After  making  good 
progress  in  Greek  and  Hebrew  he  was  examined  and 
ordained  about  four  years  since.  His  knowledge  of 
English  and  Spanish  gave  him  a  great  advantage. 
His  style  was  vivid  and  polished.  Some  of  his  ser- 
mons were  published  and  attracted  admiration  with 
some,  as  well  as  censure  from  others.  We  thought 
he  would  wield  an  influence  for  great  good.     In  fact 

he  had  begun  to  do  so We  feel  thrown  back 

on  the  Lord  and  can  only  act  on  his  exhortation  to 
pray  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  that  he  may  send  forth 
laborers  into  his  harvest," — Annual  Report^  1876. 

Rev.  Samuel  M.  and  Mrs.  Irvin. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Irvin,  July  21,  1886,  and  the 
death  of  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Irvin,  Februar}^  24,  1887, 
both  at  their  home,  Highland,  Kans.,  are  among  the 
events  of  the  mission  year.  In  1837  they  went  as 
missionaries  to  the  Iowa  and  Sac  Indians,  then  wild 
in  the  wilderness  in  what  is  now  the  northeastern 
part  of  the  State  of  Kansas.  In  1864,  the  Indians 
having  removed  from  their  former  abode,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Irvin's  connection  with  the  Board  was  relin- 
quished. It  was  renewed  in  1880.  In  the  meantime 
Mr.  Irvin  was  engaged  in  labors  both  for  the  white 
people  and  the  Indians.  An  academy  was  opened  at 
Highland,  which  is  now  known  as  Highland  Uni- 
versity, of  which  he  may  be  considered  one  of  the 
earliest  founders,  and  in  which  Indian  youths  were 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  l6l 

welcomed  as  scholars.  The  Indians  had  declined  in 
number  partly  from  their  removal,  but  some  remnants 
remained,  and  to  these  the  latter  years  of  Mr.  Irvin's 
life  were  chiefly  devoted.  The  death  of  these  excel- 
lent laborers  is  a  great  loss  to  the  Indians." — Animal 
Report^  1887. 

Rev.  R.  D.  Irwin. 

Rev.  R.  D.  Irwin,  a  graduate  of  McCormick  Semi- 
nary, was  appointed  to  the  Mexican  Mission  and 
reached  his  field  in  August,  1887,  but  was  prevented 
almost  from  the  first  from  engaging  actively  in  the 
missionary  work  by  the  illness  of  his  wife.  This 
continued  to  be  so  serious  that  by  leave  of  the  Board 
he  left  the  field  with  the  view  of  engaging  in  Home 
Missionary  work  at  El  Paso,  Texas.  But  almost  im- 
mediately after  his  arrival  he  was  so  seriously  affected 
with  nervous  prostration  that  he  was  obliged  to  set 
out  for  his  home  in  Minnesota,  and  while  on  his  way 
there  he  died  at  Jetmore,  Kans. ,  February  9,  1888. 

Mr.  Irwin  had  received  the  very  highest  recom- 
mendations from  his  instructors  in  the  seminary,  and 
had  won  the  confidence  of  his  missionary  associates 
in  a  high  degree. — Annual  Report^  1888. 


ISSACHAR. 

Saharanpur,  April  20,  1858. 
It  is  with  sincere  sorrow  we  record  the  death  of 
Issachar,  one  of  the  ablest  native  preachers  I  have 
ever  known.      He  was  a  man  of  humble  birth,  but  of 


l62  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

rare  natural  abilities.  His  memory  was  so  retentive 
that  he  seemed  to  have  at  perfect  command  all  that 
he  had  ever  read  or  heard.  Born  and  brought  up  a 
Hindu,  he  had  not  only  worshiped  idols  himself,  but 
he  had  instructed  others  to  perform  this  degrading- 
service,  and  had  even  aspired  to  be  a  priest  and 
leader  to  the  low  caste  with  which  he  mingled.  His 
mind  was  of  too  high  an  order  to  allow  him  to  remain 
on  a  level  with  the  ignorant  and  degraded  of  his  own 
class.  He  labored  from  his  earliest  youth  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  tangled  and  mystical  web,  so 
finely  and  elaborately  spun  out  in  the  Hindu  Shasters. 
Convinced,  at  last,  that  these  were  but  a  confused 
mass  of  contradictions  and  impurities,  he  was  directed 
to  the  more  rational  system  of  the  Veds,  and  he  soon 
became  a  Vedantist,  traveling  over  many  parts  of 
Northern  India  and  the  Punjab,  to  learn  from  Pundits 
and  Fakeers  as  much  of  the  system  as  possible ;  but 
still  his  logical  mind  was  not  satisfied  with  a  system 
in  which  he  had  detected  so  many  contradictions. 
His  soul,  longing  for  immortality — for  something  to 
satisfy  its  inward  cravings,  and  for  light  regarding 
the  way  of  salvation  for  a  guilty  sinner,  had  obtained 
no  peace.  The  more  he  read,  or  heard,  or  saw,  of 
Hinduism,  the  darker  the  clouds  seemed  to  gather 
around  him.  At  last,  about  eight  years  ago,  the 
Sut  milt  narupun,  or,  an  Inquiry  Concerning  the 
True  Religion,  being  a  prize  essay  in  Hindi,  of  about 
300  pages,  fell  into  his  hands.  He  read  it  with 
avidity  and  delight.  It  was  just  the  book  to  suit  his 
case,  and  the  blessed  means  of  his  conversion.  Hav- 
ing read  it  so  often  he  had  it  almost  by  heart,  and 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF    FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 63 

from  it  he  drew  the  arguments  which  he  wielded  with 
SO  much  power.  After  some  time,  he  was  baptized 
by  an  Enghsh  Episcopal  missionary,  and  was  never 
after  under  censure  for  his  moral  conduct,  though 
dismissed  some  four  years  ago  for  a  trifling  fault. 
Finding  him  at  that  time  out  of  employment,  and 
anxious  to  be  engaged  in  the  instruction  of  his  coun- 
trymen, we  took  him  on  trial.  It  required  but  a 
short  time  to  convince  us  of  the  man's  moral  and  in- 
tellectual worth.  For  nearly  four  years  he  has 
labored  with  us  from  day  to  day  with  the  greatest 
ability,  and  with  general  acceptance  among  the  peo- 
ple. No  learned  Pundit  that  we  have  met  has  been 
able  to  stand  before  him  in  argument  for  a  quarter  of 
an  hour.  He  would  soon  let  them  know  that  he  un- 
derstood the  ins  and  outs  and  strange  tortuosities  of 
the  shasters  as  well  as  themselves,  and  then  they 
would  stand  in  mute  astonishment,  gazing  on  a  man 
with  the  ugliest  face  they  had  ever  seen,  but  with  the 
best  replenished  mind  they  had  ever  encountered,  a 
man  possessed  of  the  greatest  ability  to  employ  what 
that  mind  contained  in  refuting  their  high  pre- 
tensions, and  exposing  the  gross  absurdities  and  im- 
pure morals  of  their  sacred  books.  On  these  occa- 
sions, he  would  quote  largely,  menioritei\  from  the 
Veds  and  Purans,  giving  slokas  most  appropriate  to 
the  point  in  hand,  and  which  his  opponents  could  not 
gainsay.  Then  closing  up  his  arguments  on  that 
side,  he  would  open  out  the  Gospel  plan  of  salvation 
with  a  clearness  and  fullness,  backed  with  a  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord  "  from  the  sacred  Scriptures,  so  as  to 
fix  every  eye  upon  him,  and  chain  the  audience  at  his 


164  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

will.  Indeed,  I  have  never  seen  any  man  anywhere 
who  had  greater  power  over  his  hearers  in  this  re- 
spect. So  long  as  he  spoke,  there  were  but  few  who 
could  leave  the  assembly,  while  many  would  gather 
around  to  listen  to  an  oratory  and  an  utterance  of 
truth  to  which  they  had  not  been  accustomed. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  month,  he  accompanied 
me  to  the  Hurdwar  fair.  Day  by  day  he  spoke  with 
his  accustomed  ability  to  large  crowds  of  pilgrims. 
On  the  morning  of  the  9th,  about  sunrise,  he  accom- 
panied me  to  the  bazar,  and  soon  put  to  silence  the 
host  of  objectors  that  surrounded  us ;  nor  did  they 
quit  the  ground,  as  might  be  supposed,  when  over- 
whelmed by  arguments  they  could  not  answer,  but 
remained  attentive,  often  looking  significantly  at  each 
other,  when  their  arguments  were  being  swept  away 
like  cobwebs !  [A  few  hours  afterwards  he  was  taken 
to  his  rest,  having  been  drowned  while  crossing  the 
river.]  The  labors  of  that  morning  to  direct  blind 
idolaters  to  Christ  met  with  a  speedy  reward. 

Issachar  was  not  only  a  man  of  superior  talents  and 
acquirements,  but  he  was  a  true  Christian,  in  whom 
were  strikingly  developed  the  graces  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  was  loved  by  all  who  knew  him.  Only  a 
few  days  before,  he  was  received  under  the  care  of 
Presbytery  as  a  student  of  theology,  and  delivered  an 
excellent  discourse  in  Hindi,  as  a  specimen  of  im- 
provement in  that  study,  which  he  had  been  prosecut- 
ing informally  with  the  class  for  years  past.  He  w^as, 
during  his  short  career,  the  means  of  leading  soiils  to 
Christ.  He  has  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  aged  thirty- 
three  years.      His  removal  from  such  a  field  of  use- 


OF  THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  165 

fulness,  when  so  many  laborers  are  required,  and 
when  he  was  so  well  qualified  for  his  work,  is  one  of 
those  mysteries  of  divine  Providence  which  we  are 
not  permitted  to  solve.  Doubtless  all  has  been 
ordered  in  infinite  wisdom,  and  that  ought  to  be  to 
us  all  perfectly  satisfactory. — Rev.  J .  R.  Carnpbell^ 
D.D. 

Mr.  B.  V.  R.  James. 

Mr.  James  was  born  and  educated  as  a  teacher  in 
this  country,  was  a  missionary  in  Liberia  for  the  long 
period  of  thirty- two  years,  and  died  January  9,  1869. 
He  had  been  called  to  fill  high  stations  of  trust  in  the 
government,  and  was  held  in  great  respect  by  all 
classes  of  people,  but  his  highest  honor  was  that  of 
being  an  exemplary  follower  of  Christ  and  a  devoted 
laborer  in  his  service. — Annual  Report^  1869. 


Mrs.  Rebecca  Jamieson. 

Mrs.  Jamieson,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Jesse  M.  Jamieson, 
was  a  daughter  of  Captain  Thomas  and  Mrs.  Town- 
send,  and  was  bom  at  Middleford,  Del.,  January  26, 
1 8 18.  The  death  of  her  parents,  while  she  was  quite 
young,  placed  her  under  the  charge  of  kind  and  re- 
ligious friends  and  led  to  her  enjoying  the  advantage 
of  excellent  boarding-schools.  She  became  a  com- 
municant when  she  was  fourteen,  and  her  life  of 
piety,  quickness  of  apprehension  in  her  studies  and 
warmth  of  character,  gave  her  a  strong  hold  on  the 
respect  and  affection  of  her  schoolmates,   teachers 


1 66  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

and  friends.  It  was  then  her  great  desire  to  be  use- 
ful. All  these  excellent  traits  found  full  develop- 
ment in  her  missionary  life.  With  her  husband  she 
reached  Calcutta  in  1836.  On  the  voyage  a  precious 
revival  of  religion  was  enjoyed  ....  when  the  cap- 
tain, first  officer,  and  several  sailors  were  led  to  ac- 
cept of  Christ  as  their  Saviour;  and  Mrs.  Jamieson's 
gift  of  a  Bible  to  the  first  officer  seemed  to  be  the 
means  of  his  conversion. 

In  India,  her  health  was  delicate;  often  she  was 
subject  to  severe  illness,  but  she  was  ever  diligent 
and  unwearied  in  the  fulfillment  of  every  Christian 
duty.  A  short  memoir,  published  in  the  Missionary 
Chronicle  of  August,  1846,  speaks  of  her  as  "a  kind 
and  affectionate  mother;  no  one  ever  felt  the  re- 
sponsibility of  bringing  up  children  "in  a  heathen  land 
more  than  she  did.  Hence  she  scarcely  ever  suffered 
her  six  little  ones  to  be  out  of  her  sight  with  heathen 
servants."  It  was  a  striking  example  of  her  benevo- 
lence that  she  added  to  her  own  family  a  little  girl, 
whom  she  rescued  from  the  worst  influences,  when 
the  child  was  neglected  by  her  father.  But  with  all 
her  fidelity  in  her  own  family,  she  found  time  to  do 
much  for  the  heathen.  She  had  applied  herself  on 
first  reaching  India  to  the  earnest  study  of  the  native 
language,  justly  considering  this  the  first  and  greatest 
attainment  of  a  foreign  missionary.  And  afterwards, 
while  teaching  about  thirty  Hindu  girls  in  her  school, 
she  acquired  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  Hindi,  so 
that  she  could  speak  and  write  it  with  much  readi- 
ness. This  was,  no  doubt,  a  principal  means  of  her 
gaining  such  great  influence  over  the  native  women, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  167 

and  it  prepared  her  also  for  usefulness  through  the 
press.  One  of  her  little  works  was  widely  circulated, 
but  she  did  not  live  long  enough  to  carry  this  method 
of  doing  good  to  any  great  extent, 

Mrs.  Jamieson  excelled  in  religious  conversation 
with  natives  of  the  country.  ' '  She  had  an  ease  in 
expression,  and  a  tender,  winning  manner,  which 
never  failed  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  most  list- 
less, or  to  disarm  the  bitterest  enemy  of  his  opposi- 
tion to  the  cross.  She  was  emphatically  the  friend 
of  the  poor.  No  beggar  ever  left  her  door  without  a 
pittance  of  charity  and  a  kind  word,  and  to  teach  her 
children  to  do  likewise,  she  always,  when  convenient, 
made  them  her  almoners.  Her  favorite  sentiment 
w^as,  '  Happiness  is  the  essence  of  heaven,  and  if  I 
can  but  make  one  poor  heathen  child  happy  for  half 
an  hour,  I  should  not  live  in  vain ;  for  every  drop  of 
happiness  we  receive  or  communicate  from  the 
troubled  sea  of  time  is  an  antepast  of  that  holy 
place.'  " 

The  days  of  this  devoted  missionary  were  num- 
bered September  2,  1845.  Attacked  by  cholera,  she 
was  found  prepared  for  the  time  of  her  departure. 
,"  Although  weak  in  body,  her  mind  remained  calm 
and  quite  composed  until  a  short  time  before  her 
death.  She  spent  nearly  the  whole  of  Friday  night 
in  conversing  with  her  husband  about  the  cause  of 
missions,  the  disposal  of  the  dear  children  after  her 
death,  and  in  giving  messages  for  her  friends.  She 
said  she  felt  very  unworthy  of  the  honor  of  being  a 
missionary  to  the  heathen,  but  hoped  she  had  not 
lived  altogether  in  vain;  and  now  on  the  brink  of 


l68  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

eternity  she  felt  more  and  more  the  importance  of 
chastened  and  intelHgent  views  of  the  work. 

' '  On  Monday,  on  being  told  it  was  very  probable 
she  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live,  she  heard  this  with 
the  greatest  composure,  and  simply  said,  '  Do  you 
think  so,  my  dear?  that  is  but  a  short  time;'  and 
raising  her  hands  offered  up  a  short  prayer.  She 
then  desired  all  the  children  to  be  brought  to  her, 
and  telling  them  she  was  dying,  embraced  them  one 
by  one,  and  gave  them  her  last  blessing.  After  this 
she  had  the  heathen  servants  collected,  and  address- 
ing them  distinctly  by  name,  exhorted  them  to  be- 
lieve on  Jesus  and  to  prepare  for  death,  as  she  had 
often  warned  them.  All  wept,  except  the  departing 
believer :  she  was  all  calmness.  After  this  sad  fare- 
well she  asked  her  husband  to  read  for  her  the  fifth 
chapter  of  second  Corinthians  and  the  second  of 
Ephesians,  and  to  pray  with  her.  She  then  repeated, 
as  she  had  strength,  the  beautiful  hymns,  commenc- 
ing, 'Come,  Holy  Spirit,  calm  my  mind;'  'Come, 
Holy  Spirit,  come ;'  '  There  is  a  land  of  pure  dehght,' 
and  the  twenty-third  Psalm.  Shortly  afterwards  she 
said  to  the  doctor,  '  I  am  dying  fast,  the  conflict  will 
soon  be  over.  I  am  going  to  a  glorious  world. 
Blessed  Jesus — no  doubts.*  She  then  fell  into  a 
doze,  and  in  about  an  hour,  looking  up,  exclaimed, 
*  Many,  many,  all  friends. '  Here  her  mind  began  to 
wander,  and  she  spoke  very  little  more,  except  in 
broken  sentences,  as  'Come  quick,  make  haste.' 
She,  however,  continued  to  recognize  her  husband 
till  within  an  hour  or  two  of  her  death,  when  she  be- 
came apparently  unconscious  of  earth,  and  gradually 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  169 

sunk  until  the  clock  struck  four  on  Tuesday  morning, 
September  4,  when  she  gently  breathed  her  last. 

' '  On  the  evening  after  her  death,  her  remains  were 
deposited  in  the  station  burial-ground,  there  to  await 
the  voice  that  wakes  the  dead.  The  solemn  pro- 
cession at  her  funeral  was  accompanied  by  a  larger 
company  of  respectable  natives  than  was  ever  seen 
at  any  European  funeral  in  Sabathu  before;  and 
many  of  them,  to  show  their  esteem  for  the  deceased, 
came  forward  and  cast  handfuls  of  earth  into  her 
grave,  and  for  several  days  after  her  burial  many  re- 
sorted to  the  mission  compound  to  show  their  grief 
by  loud  lamentations.  May  she,  though  dead,  yet 
speak,  and  may  the  Gospel  seed  she  sowed  bring  forth 
an  abundant  harvest !  " — ■/.  C.  L. 


Mrs.  Eliza  McL.  Jamieson. 

Mrs.  Jamieson,  second  wife  of  the  Rev.  J.  M. 
Jamieson,  died  July  17,  1856,  ''to  the  great  grief  of 
her  missionary  associates,  as  well  as  of  her  own 
family.  She  had  long  suffered  from  severe  illness, 
which  she  bore  with  Christian  patience ;  and  her  last 
hours  were  full  of  peace." — Annual  Report,  1S57. 


Rev.  Levi  Janvier,  D.  D. 

The  subject  of  this  brief  memoir  was  born  at  Pitt's 
Grove,  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  on  the  25th  of 
April,  A.D.  1816.  His  early  youth  was  spent  in 
study  under  the  care  of  his  father,  who  was  pastor  of 


I70  NECRO LOGICAL   RECORD 

the  Presbyterian  Church  in  that  place.  His  early- 
studies  were  chiefly  devoted  to  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages,  and  these  studies  soon  developed  a  native 
aptitude  for  acquiring  language  in  general.  At 
Easton,  where  La  Fayette  College  was  then  in  its 
infancy,  he  for  some  time,  under  the  instructions  of 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Junkin,  attended  to  the  mathematics, 
and  in  that  branch  also  his  proficiency  was  no  less  re- 
markable. From  Easton  he  went  to  Lawrenceville, 
and  spent  a  few  months  in  the  school  of  the  Rev. 
Isaac  V.  Brown,  and  thence  proceeded  to  Princeton 
and  entered  the  Junior  class.  During  his  brief  term 
there,  he  studied  the  French  language  in  addition  to 
the  regular  course  of  his  class.  At  the  commence- 
ment he  pronounced  the  salutatory,  and  shared  vvdth 
two  others  the  first  honor  of  the  class.  There  he  be- 
came a  member  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  felt 
that  the  Gospel  ministry  was  the  vocation  of  his 
choice.  During  his  course  in  the  seminary  he  sur- 
veyed the  vast  extent  of  the  missionary  field,  and 
among  the  stations  occupied  by  our  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, chose  Lodiana  as  the  place  of  his  future  labors. 
Having  obtained  the  sanction  of  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions, he  sailed,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  in  Septem- 
ber, 1841,  arriving  at  Calcutta,  and  proceeding  up  the 
Ganges  to  Allahabad,  where  he  remained  several 
weeks;  and  they  reached  their  destination  early  in 
the  spring  of  1842.  Having  commenced  the  study 
of  the  Urdu  tongue  soon  after  leaving  his  native 
shore,  he  at  once  commenced  his  labors  among  his 
heathen  neighbors  in  Lodiana.  His  time  was  divided 
between  preaching  and  translating.     For  some  time 


OF  THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I71 

he  taught  a  school  of  Hindu  youth,  making  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel  a  constant  portion  of  their  stu- 
dies. Throughout  his  whole  course,  his  labors  were 
connected  with  the  Press,  to  the  last  and  closing 
period  of  his  work. 

As  soon  as  he  had  mastered  the  Punjabi  language, 
Mr.  Janvier,  with  his  cousin.  Dr.  Newton,  of  the 
same  mission,  entered  upon  his  greatest  hterary 
work,  the  formation  of  a  dictionary  of  that  language. 
With  great  labor  it  was  finally  completed,  and  was 
published  by  the  Mission  Press  in  1854.  A  copy  of 
this  work  was  transmitted  by  Dr.  Janvier  to  his 
father  in  1856.  It  is  a  neat  quarto  of  438  pages, 
finely  printed  and  substantially  bound,  in  the  Gur- 
mukhi  character,  and  with  three  columns  on  each 
page.  Dr.  Newton  had  previously  composed  and 
published  a  grammar  of  the  same  tongue. 

The  lamented  subject  of  this  sketch  was  formed  by 
nature  for  action ;  and  when  by  grace  his  heart  was 
formed  anew,  his  whole  soul  was  filled  with  zeal  to 
promote  the  salvation  of  the  heathen. 

He  met  his  death  on  the  24th  of  March,  1864,  at  a 
mela,  whither  he  had  gone  to  preach  and  distribute 
tracts.  The  meeting  was  closing,  and  the  brethren, 
having  partaken  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  prepar- 
ing to  separate  on  the  morrow.  In  the  evening  Dr. 
Janvier  was  met  by  a  fanatic  Akali  Sikh,  and  felled 
to  the  ground  with  a  club !  The  murderer  fled,  but 
was  overtaken  and  secured.  He  was  afterwards 
tried  in  a  criminal  court,  found  guilty  and  hanged. 
His  victim  languished,  speechless  and  insensible,  till 
morning,   when  his  spirit  took  its  flight.      The    re- 


172  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

mains  were  laid,  in  the  presence  of  a  very  large  and 
solemn  assembly,  by  the  side  of  several  relatives,  in 
the  burial  ground  of  the  Mission  of  Lodiana ;  and  his 
excellent  widow  was  left  desolate,  though  sustained 
by  a  strong  faith  and  an  unwavering  assurance  of  the 
blessedness  of  him  whom  for  a  season  she  had  lost. — 
Rev.  George  W.  Janvier^  D.D. 


Mrs.  Janvier. 

Mrs.  Janvier  was  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Levi  Janvier. 
Of  her  early  life  nothing  is  known  to  the  compiler 
of  these  notices;  but  her  lovely  Christian  character 
as  a  missionary  was  well  known.  She  died  at  Simla, 
India,  May  5,  1854.  The  Rev.  A.  Rudolph,  long 
associated  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Janvier  at  the  same 
station,  thus  wrote  of  her  last  days  on  earth : 

"While  formerly  her  mind  had  been  much  be- 
clouded by  doubts  and  fears,  the  merciful  Saviour 
permitted  her,  the  last  day  before  her  death,  not  only 
to  look  with  calmness  and  composure,  but  with  com- 
fort, at  the  prospect  before  her.  She  told  her  hus- 
band that  the  Lord  had  brought  her  to  Simla  to  die ; 
thus  evidently  realizing  the  position  she  was  in. 
Again  she  said,  '  Can  it  be  that  I  am  treading  the 
verge  of  Jordan  ? '  When  she  was  told  that  the  Lord 
had  done  all  things  well,  she  replied,  '  Yes,  and  it 
will  be  well. '  Many  comforting  passages  of  Scrip- 
ture and  parts  of  hymns  occurred  to  her  mind  during 
the  day,  such  as,  *  I  cast  my  sins  on  Jesus,'  'Jesus, 
thy  blood  and  righteousness, '  etc. ,  and  she  expressed 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 73 

the  hope  that  the  Saviour  had  accepted  her.  This 
was  of  course  very  comforting  to  our  poor  afflicted 
brother,  who  had  long  been  wishing  and  praying 
that  the  Lord  would  make  her  more  sensible  of  her 
acceptance  with  him.  She  seemed  to  be  conscious 
almost  to  the  last,  having  spoken  quite  distinctly 
only  a  few  minutes  before  her  departure. 

*'  It  would  perhaps  ill  accord  with  her  simplicity 
of  mind  and  unassuming  character,  if  I  were  to  say 
much  in  praise  of  her  many  virtues,  that  won  for  her 
so  many  friends.  She  was  much  beloved  by  those 
who  knew  her,  and  her  death  will  make  many  a 
heart  sad.  Her  naturally  sweet  and  pleasant  coun- 
tenance had  received  a  new  impress  by  her  long  con- 
tinued disease,  which  made  her  sometimes  look  sad, 
but  which  nevertheless  added  new  interest  to  her 
appearance.  She  seemed  to  me  a  most  patient  suf- 
ferer, that  felt  deeply  her  affliction,  and  yet  knew 
how  to  bear  it  with  composure  and  submission  " — 
/.  C.  L. 

Mrs.  Mary  R.  Janvier. 

Another  faithful  laborer  in  the  mission  field  has 
gone  to  her  rest.  The  tidings  of  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Mary  R.  Janvier  will  bring  sorrow  to  the  hearts  of 
her  many  friends  here  as  well  as  to  those  who  were 
associated  with  her  in  missionary  work  in  India, 
where  for  nearly  twenty-four  years  she  labored  with 
untiring  zeal. 

''Several  years  ago  Mrs.  Janvier  was  attacked 
with  sudden  and  serious  illness  on  the  eve  of  her 


174  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

departure  for  Northern  India  to  resume  the  work 
so  dear  to  her  heart.  After  three  years  of  patient 
waiting  this  hope  seemed  about  to  be  realized 
when  the  Lord  called  her  to  rest  from  her  labors. 

"Quiet  and  unobtrusive  in  her  bearing,  none  but 
those  who  knew  her  best  could  fathom  the  depths  of 
love  in  her  soul,  or  know  the  yearning  of  her  heart 
to  tell  to  others  the  story  of  that  love  which  had 
made  her  own  Christian  life  so  rare  and  beautiful." 
—  Wo  man's  Work  for  Wo^/ian,  February,  1884. 

Mrs.  Janvier  was  the  widow  first  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Porter,  with  whom  she  went  to  India  in  1835,  and 
the  second  wife  and  widow  of  Rev,  Levi  Janvier, 
both  whose  names  appear  in  this  Necrology.  She 
was  also  the  mother  of  Rev.  C.  A.  R.  Janvier,  now 
of  India. 

Mrs.  H.  H.  Jessup. 

The  sad  news  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Henry  Harris 
Jessup  (at  Beirut,  April  4,  1882),  has  reached  many 
friends  in  America  by  cable.  She  had  been  ill  for 
nearly  a  month  with  an  attack  of  pleurisy,  but  was 
apparently  in  a  hopeful  state  of  convalescence,  when 
suddenly,  without  premonition  and  with  no  warning 
signs  of  the  swift  approach  of  dissolution,  a  fatal  inter- 
nal hemorrhage  drained  her  life-blood  and  she  sank 
quietly  and  painlessly  into  the  sleep  of  death.  Her 
five  httle  children  had  said  their  prayers  at  her  bed- 
side, and  had  kissed  her  good  night,  and  retired  to 
rest.  It  was  a  last  and  long  good  night,  for  before 
the  morning  they  v/ere  motherless.     I  need  not  write 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I75 

of  the  deep  affliction  of  her  loving  husband,  nor  of 
the  touching  grief  of  her  Httle  ones,  who  have  been 
so  m3'"steriously  bereft  of  a  most  faithful  and  devoted 
mother.  The  sympathy  and  sorrow  of  not  only  the 
mission  circle,  but  also  the  English  and  native  Syrian 
community,  have  been  most  heartfelt  and  profound. 
Her  funeral  was  attended  by  a  large  concourse  of 
natives  and  foreign  residents,  with  every  manifesta- 
tion of  tender  regard  for  her  memory  and  high 
esteem  for  her  many  virtues. 

Mrs.  Jessup  was  a  woman  of  singularly  refined  and 
amiable  and  gentle  disposition,  and  was  gifted  with 
many  of  the  graces  which  give  to  her  sex  the  noble 
position  and  the  elevating  social  influence  which 
belong  to  Christian  womanhood.  She  was  a  bright 
example  of  that  moral  power  which  society  every- 
where recognizes  as  the  divine  right  of  womanly 
purity  and  unaffected  goodness.  It  was  especially 
her  calling  as  the  wife  of  an  American  missionary  in 
these  Eastern  lands,  to  live  in  the  full  view  of  the 
resident  and  native  society  the  life  of  a  Christian 
wife  and  mother,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fill  fittingly 
and  well  the  place  which  belonged  to  her  in  the 
social  sphere.  It  is  not,  however,  upon  society,  or 
even  in  the  humbler  walks  of  missionary  life,  that 
she  left  her  choicest  and  most  lasting  impress.  Kind 
and  gracious  as  were  her  ways  with  the  native  S3'rian 
community,  many  and  precious  as  were  her  words  of 
counsel  and  sympathy,  her  deeds  of  love  and  charity, 
yet  her  hoine-life  was  where  she  excelled  and  where 
she  has  left  an  influence  and  an  example  of  peculiar 
and  conspicuous  beauty.     As  the  companion  of  a  man 


176  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

of  many  and  varied  missionary  labors  and  responsibil- 
ities, and  as  the  mother  of  a  bright  and  lovely  group 
of  children,  she  moved  in  the  home  circle  with  the 
beauty  and  dignity  of  true  womanhood  and  the  un- 
approachable influence  and  the  imperishable  power 
of  Christian  motherhood.  It  was  here  that  the 
"beauty  of  the  Lord"  which  was  upon  her  seemed 
to  shine  with  its  brightest  lustre.  It  is  here  that  her 
loss  is  recognized  in  its  full  extent,  and  in  this  con- 
nection it  seems  to  us  all  such  a  painful  myster}^ 

How  quickly,  sometimes,  one  single  stroke  of 
Providence  seems  to  change  our  life  into  an  appar- 
ently insoluble  problem,  and  we  can  only  put  our 
hand  into  that  of  the  divine  Guide  and  ask  him  to 
lead  us  on  towards  the  clearer  light. — Rev.  James  S. 
Dennis^  D.D. 

Rev.  Albert  O.  and  Mrs.  Amanda  J.  Johnson. 

Mr.  Johnson  was  born  in  Cadiz,  O. ,  in  1833,  grad- 
uated at  Jefferson  College  and  Allegheny  Theologi- 
cal Seminary.  His  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
Jonathan  Gill,  a  much  respected  minister  of  the 
Associate  Presbyterian  Church.  They  went  to  India 
in  1855  and  met  with  a  violent  death  at  Cawnpore 
in  1857  (see  Appendix,  Narrative  of  Events  at 
Futtehgurh ;  also  Martyred  Missionaries^  by  J.  J. 
Walsh).  There  was  the  best  reason  for  expecting 
that  both  of  these  missionaries  would  have  proved 
most  faithful  and  useful  laborers  if  it  had  pleased 
God  to  spare  their  lives. — -/.  C.  L. 

In  Mrs.  Johnson's  last  letter  she  writes :   *  'Although 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 77 

we  be  called  upon  to  part  with  life  for  Christ  and  his 
cause,  may  we  not  glorify  him  more  by  our  death 
than  by  our  life  ?  .  .  .  .  We  look  upon  each  day 
now  as  our  last.  But  oh!  how  delightful  are  our 
seasons  of  prayer,  together  imploring  the  care  and 
protection  of  that  God  who  alone  can  save  us  ? " 


Mrs.  William  F.  Johnson. 

The  removal  by  death,  August  lo,  1888,  of  Mrs. 
Johnson,  wife  of  Rev.  William  F.  Johnson,  D.D., 
was  a  great  loss  to  this  (Allahabad)  station.  With 
her  husband  and  children  she  was  in  this  country  on 
a  visit,  expecting  to  return  to  India.  Her  missionary 
life  extended  over  twenty-eight  years,  but  she  was 
still  in  full  service,  greatly  useful,  beloved  and 
lamented;  but  she  is  now  "with  Christ,  which  is  far 
better." — Animal  Report,  1889. 


Mrs.  Samuel  H.  Kellogg. 

Mrs.  Kellogg  died  at  Allahabad,  India,  March  4, 
1876. 

She  was  sick  only  about  a  week  with  what  appeared 
to  be  a  malignant  malarial  fever.  She  met  her  end 
in  perfect  consciousness,  with  perfect  peace  and  trust 
in  Christ,  unruffled  by  the  faintest  shadow  of  fear, 
anxiety,  or  alarm.  Almost  her  very  last  words  were : 
"  Saved  entirely,  entirely  through  Christ. "  She  bade 
her  loved  ones  good-by,  saying,  "After  awhile  we 
shall  meet  ao-ain."     Her  removal  is  a  crreat  loss  to 


178  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

the  mission  as  well  as  to  her  family.  Her  heart  was 
in  the  service  of  her  Master. — Foreign  Missionary^ 
May,  1876. 

Mrs.  John  G.  Kerr. 

Mrs.  Kerr,  wife  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Kerr,  of  the  Mission 
in  China,  died  August  24,  1S55.  Her  death  was  un- 
expected, but  she  was  found  prepared  for  the  coming 
of  her  Lord.  By  this  dispensation  the  Church  and 
the  heathen  have  lost  the  services  of  a  devoted 
laborer;  but  as  for  God,  his  way  is  perfect,  a  consol- 
ing truth  which  her  bereaved  parents  have  had  in- 
scribed on  the  tombstone  of  their  beloved  daughter. 
— Annual  Report^  1856. 


Mrs.  John  G.   Kerr  (2). 

Mrs.  John  G.  Kerr,  of  the  Canton  Mission,  ''died 
peacefully  on  the  morning  of  April  i,  1885,"  at  Mary- 
ville,  Tenn.  She  returned  from  China  with  her  hus- 
band, last  year,  on  account  of  his  health,  and  since 
Christmas  she  herself  has  been  steadily  wasting 
away  with  disease.  Her  immediate  departure  had 
not  been  anticipated  until  within  a  week  of  her  death. 
"She  met  her  great  change  without  a  fear,  having 
her  faith  fixed  firmly  upon  the  rock  Christ  Jesus." 
Such  is  the  testimony  given  by  one  nearest  and 
dearest. 

Mrs.  Kerr  longed  to  return  to  China;  but  it  was 
not  the  will  of  God.  We  remember  her  as  a  kind 
and  genial  hostess  at  Canton,  in  the  autumn  of  1874, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  Ijg 

and  we  join  with  many  others  in  mourning  her  loss, 
and  in  sympathizing-  with  her  bereaved  husband. 
She  had  been  a  support  to  him  during  his  many 
years  of  arduous  service  in  the  Canton  hospital. 
She  was  an  affectionate  mother  and  a  kind  friend  of 
all,  and  not  less  to  the  natives  than  those  of  her  own 
.race.  Mrs.  Kerr  had  the  great  happiness,  ere  she 
died,  of  seeing  her  only  son  received  into  the  Church 
of  Christ  on  profession  of  his  faith. — Foreign  Mis- 
sionary, May,   1885. 

Mrs.  Dr.  C.  J.  Laffin. 

A  cable  dispatch  brought  to  the  Mission  House  the 
sad  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Mrs,  Dr.  Laffin,  of 
Batanga,  West  Africa,  on  November  3,  1894. 

The  brief  dispatch  brought  no  intelligence  as  to 
the  cause  of  death.  Letters  received,  dated  Octo- 
ber 3,  told  of  the  plans  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Laffin  had  of 
spending  two  weeks  among  the  Mabeyas,  a  work  in 
which  both  had  become  deeply  interested. 

The  blow  to  the  mission,  and  especially  to  the 
bereaved  husband,  is  a  heavy  one,  as  Mrs.  Laffin  was 
in  every  respect  a  missionary  thoroughly  devoted  to 
her  work  and  enjoying  the  confidence  and  affection 
of  the  entire  mission.  Her  journey  to  the  interior, 
made  a  few  months  before  her  death,  elicited  her 
sympathy  in  behalf  of  the  multitudes  of  women 
who  had  never  heard  the  Gospel,  and  she  would 
gladly,  with  her  husband,  have  devoted  the  rest  of 
her  life  to  working  among  them  had  it  seemed  best 
to  the  mission. 


l8o  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Mrs.  Laffin  was  a  resident  of  Binghamton, 
N.  Y.,  where  her  mother  and  brother  still  reside. 
These  loved  ones  and  the  sorrowing  husband  will 
doubtless  be  remembered  by  many  at  the  throne  of 
grace. — Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^  January,  1895. 


Rev.  Matthew  and  Mrs.  Laird. 

Mr.  Laird,  of  Union  county,  Pa. ,  graduated  at  Jef- 
ferson College,  studied  theology  at  Princeton,  arrived 
with  his  wife  at  Monrovia,  December  31,  1833,  in  the 
same  ship  with  Mr.  Cloud.  They  were  faithful  in 
their  kind  attentions  to  him  in  his  last  sickness;  were 
then  attacked  by  the  same  disease  and  followed  their 
beloved  friend  and  colleague  soon  after  his  death  to 
the  same  rest  and  peace,  Mrs.  Laird  departing  this 
life  May  3,  1834,  and  Mr.  Laird  the  next  day.  Mr. 
Laird  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  modest  but  genial 
disposition,  well-balanced  mind,  talents  and  scholar- 
ship equal  to  those  of  most  of  his  fellow-students, 
and  piety  of  evidently  humble  and  earnest  character. 
Few  men  were  better  qualified  to  be  practically  use- 
ful in  missionary  life.  Mrs.  Laird  is  spoken  of  in  the 
Annual  Report  of  1835  *'  as  a  woman  of  no  ordinary 
faith  and  fortitude. " — J.  C.  L. 


Mrs.  J.  H.  Laughlin. 

Deep  affliction  has  fallen  upon  the  North  China 
Mission.  On  the  29th  of  July  last  (1884),  Mrs.  J.  H. 
Laughlin  was  called  away  from  earth  after  an  illness 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  l8l 

of  about  three  months.  Mrs.  Laughlin,  with  her 
husband,  had  been  in  China  nearly  three  years,  and, 
in  connection  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  R.  M.  Mateer  and 
J.  M.  Matthewson,  M.D.,  had  established  a  new  sta- 
tion at  Wei  Hien,  250  miles  in  the  interior  from 
Chefoo.  The  intelligence  of  her  death  will  bring 
inexpressible  sorrow  to  the  many  friends  of  this 
beloved  young  missionary.  Her  home  had  been  for 
several  years  at  Cleveland,  O.,  where  her  father, 
Rev.  William  Johnson,  is  pastor  of  the  People's 
Tabernacle.  Mrs.  Laughlin  added  the  charm  of  her 
delightful  singing  to  her  father's  evangelistic  services. 
The  multitudes  who  worshiped  there  will  never  for- 
get that  sw^eet  voice  which  sang  the  Gospel  into  so 
many  hearts,  nor  that  beautiful  young  life,  always 
full  of  gladness,  itself  a  constant  witness  for  the 
Saviour.  All  hearts  will  sympathize  deeply  with  the 
mourning  household  at  Cleveland,  and  even  more 
deeply  with  the  bereaved  and  lonely  husband  at  his 
far-off  post  in  China.  But  to  both  these  have  been 
given  the  strongest  consolations.  Mrs.  Laughlin 
had  drawn  to  herself  in  a  wonderful  manner  the 
hearts  of  the  Chinese  around  her.  The  servants  of 
her  household  could  hardly  enter  her  room  without 
tears.  Mr.  Laughlin  writes:  ''Some  days  before 
the  end  she  called  in  the  native  Christians  and  ex- 
horted them  to  meet  her  in  heaven,  and  on  earth  to 
be  not  content  with  following  Jesus  at  a  distance. 
The  strong  men  wept  profusely,  and  seemed  more 
impressed  than  I  supposed  Chinese  could  be.  She 
loved  her  home  and  work,  but  said  it  would  be  '  far 
better  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ. '     The  only  inch- 


I  S3  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

nation  she  had  to  stay  sprang  from  her  desire  to  con- 
tinue the  work  for  her  beloved  Master.  When  the 
Chinese  Christians  expressed  to  her  their  sorrow  that 
they  should  lose  her  example  and  teaching,  she 
replied,  ^I'm  such  a  poor  worker;  but  if  you  think 
that  I  could  help  you  by  staying,  you  may  ask  God 
to  let  me  stay. '  And  when  the  missionaries  spoke  of 
the  loss  to  the  cause,  she  said  to  them,  '  Then  you 
may  pray  now  that,  if  it  be  best,  my  life  may  be 
spared.'  She  herself  offered  a  beautiful  prayer  to 
that  end,  reiterating,  however,  again  and  again,  in 
her  weak  voice,  '  But  do  thine  own  will,  O  Lord. 

Her  life  was  one  of  brightness,  her  presence 
brought  sunshine  wherever  she  came.  She  was  most 
affectionate  and  ardent,  blessed  with  exuberant 
health  and  the  happiest  temperament,  beloved  by  all, 
and  constantly  writing  home  of  the  enjoyment  which 
her  new  life  in  China  had  brought  her,  and  yet  so  clear 
and  assured  was  her  expectation  of  heaven,  and  so 
vivid  her  appreciation  of  its  holy  delights,  that  to  ex- 
change the  brightest  earthly  home  for  these  seemed  to 
her  like  welcoming  the  glorious  daybreak  after  a 
lovely  dawn. — Foreign  Missionary,  November,  1884. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Lester. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Lester,  one  of  our  most  valued  and 
beloved  missionaries,  has  recently  '' entered  into 
rest. "  After  only  a  week's  illness,  during  which  her 
case  received  the  best  medical  care  and  the  loving 
ministrations  of  friends,  she  passed  away  with  serene 
trust  in  the  merits  of  her  Saviour,  July  30,  1884. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  1 83 

About  two  years  ago  Mrs.  Lester  arrived  in  Chili 
witli  her  husband,  who  was  soon  placed  in  charge  of 
the  Protestant  Chilian  Church  of  Santiago.  She 
was  young,  well-educated  and  gifted  with  rare  per- 
sonal attractions  in  feature,  voice,  manner  and  spirit. 
It  w^as  evident  that  she  had  given  good  heed  to  the 
Saviour's  words,  "Abide  in  me,  and  I  in  you."  She 
at  once  began  the  study  of  the  Spanish  language,  and 
entered  immediately  into  such  missionary  labors  as 
she  could  perform.  In  company  with  the  widow  of 
a  former  missionary,  she  visited  the  homes  of  the 
poor  and  sick  belonging  to  her  husband's  congrega- 
tion, taking  with  her  such  material  comforts  as  she 
could  procure  and  the  cheer  which  her  presence 
always  imparted.  One  poor  woman,  who  died 
shortly  after  Mrs.  Lester's  arrival  in  the  country, 
remarked:  "She  cannot  tell  me  in  words  just  what 
she  v/ishes  to  say,  but  it  does  me  good  to  look  at  her 
sweet  face  and  \.o  feci  her  sympathy."  The  children 
were  drawn  to  her  as  if  by  some  magnetic  charm, 
and  through  her  kindly  ways  and  enthusiasm,  people 
who  had  hitherto  manifested  no  interest  in  the  mis- 
sion were  led  to  become  helpers  by  their  gifts  or  per- 
sonal labors. 

Sadly  will  she  be  missed  in  that  Chilian  congrega- 
tion. Deep  is  the  sense  of  loss  in  that  missionary 
circle  in  Chili  in  which  she  was  so  appreciated  and 
beloved.  Scores  of  friends  there,  as  well  as  in  this 
country,  mourn  that  they  are  to  see  her  face  no  more 
on  earth,  and  heavy  are  the  hearts  of  near  relatives 
who  receive  the  sad  news  of  her  death.  But,  above 
all,  let  the  friends  of  missions  remember  in  earnest 


1 84  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

prayer  the  one  most  stricken,  the  devoted  husband 
and  missionary,  in  his  bitter  loneliness,  with  the  little 
babe  the  mother  has  left  to  comfort  him. 

The  message  that  comes  to  the  Church  from  her 
short  though  shining  missionary  life  is  :  ^'  Help^ 
help  soon ^  that  Chili  may  have  the  Gospel." — A.  M. 
Merwin. 

Mrs.  W.  H.  Lingle. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Lingle  and  wife  arrived  in  Canton  in 
1S90,  and  two  years  later,  on  account  of  Mrs.  Lin- 
gle's  health,  were  obliged  to  return  to  this  country, 
where  she  died  after  a  lingering  illness,  November 
5,  1893.  She  was  a  devoted  wife  and  a  faithful, 
earnest  missionary  while  life  and  health  continued. 
Yielding  to  the  sure  progress  of  an  incurable  dis- 
ease, she  received  her  summons  in  peaceful  trust. 
Mr.  Lingle  has  returned  to  his  field  of  labor  at  Lien 
Chow. — Annual  Report,  1894. 


Rev.  Kying  Ling-yiu. 

Our  beloved  brother  and  faithful  fellow-laborer. 
Rev.  Kying  Ling-yiu,  died  at  Ningpo,  China,  on  the 
4th  of  August,  1866,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one. 

In  1845  Dr.  McCartee  was  called  to  see  a  man  about 
two  miles  distant  from  Ningpo,  who  had  received  a 
very  severe  wound  and  required  constant  attendance 
for  some  months.  The  doctor  there  became  ac- 
quainted with  a  bright,  frank,  black-eyed  boy,  about 
ten  years  of  age,  the  nephew  of  the  wounded  man. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  1 85 

Finding  that  his  mother  was  a  widow  and  poor,  he 
brought  the  boy  to  Ningpo.  When  he  left  the  board- 
ing-school, he  at  first  took  charge  of  a  day-school, 
tinder  the  care  of  Dr.  McCartee.  In  the  day-school 
he  proved  a  successful  teacher;  he  was  faithful  to 
the  souls  of  his  pupils,  and  his  labors  in  this,  his  first 
undertaking,  were  not  without  fruit.  He  remained 
in  charge  of  the  day-school  about  a  year,  after  which 
he  studied  theology  for  some  time  under  Mr.  Rankin. 

In  1859  he  went  with  Mr.  Nevius  to  Hangchow 

Early  in  1863  he  was  sent  to  Yu-yiao,  a  city  about 
forty  miles  up  the  river  from  Ningpo.  He  was 
licensed  and  ordained  to  the  full  work  of  the  Gospel 
ministry  in  1864,  and  became  co-pastor  with  one  of 
the  foreign  brethren  of  the  church  in  Yu-yiao.  There 
were  only  four  professing  Christians  in  that  place, 
and  one  of  them  was  under  suspension;  but  the 
Master  seemed  to  own  the  labors  of  his  young  ser- 
vant there,  almost  from  the  very  first  day.  At  the 
first  communion  held  after  his  arrival  in  1863,  about 
twenty  persons  made  application  for  baptism,  of 
whom  fifteen  were  baptized;  and  there  has  been  no 
time  since  then,  when  there  have  not  been  evidences 
of  God's  favor  resting  upon  the  work  at  Yu-yiao.  At 
the  last  communion  in  May,  1866,  nineteen  made  ap- 
plication, of  whom  five  were  baptized.  There  are 
now  there  about  eighty  communicants  and  twenty 
inquirers;  and  there  is  scarcely  a  village  or  district 
within  ten  miles  of  the  city  where  the  Gospel  has  not 
been  preached. 

This  is  no  small  progress  for  the  time  in  China — a 
church  of  about  a  hundred  members,  hewn  out  of  the 


l86  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

solid  rock  of  heathenism  in  about  three  years.  Be- 
sides, Mr.  Kying-  did  a  vast  amount  of  sowing  that  is 
to  be  gathered  by  other  reapers.  I  am  sure  that,  if 
the  man  who  did  it  could  be  consulted  on  the  subject, 
he  would  not  say  that  it  was  because  he  was  perfect ; 
he  had  his  faults  as  we  all  have  ours,  but  he  was  united 
to  Jesus  Christ  by  faith,  and  by  both  word  and  deed 
showed  that  he  desired  to  live  only  for  Christ's  glory 
in  the  extension  of  the  Gospel.  He  was  zealous  and 
earnest  in  his  Master's  work;  whether  he  met  people 
in  a  passenger  boat,  going  into  the  country,  or  halt- 
ing for  a  while  in  a  rest-house,  many  of  v/hich  are 
erected  b}^  the  roadside  here,  or  in  his  own  house  or 
in  theirs,  very  few  parted  from  him  without  having 
heard  something  of  the  Gospel.  He  was  not  only 
thus  earnest  himself  in  making  known  the  Gospel, 
but  he  had  a  happy  faculty  of  employing  all  the 
talent  in  the  church  for  the  same  purpose.  Thus,  if 
one  of  the  church  mem.bers  was  out  of  work  for  a 
day,  Mr.  Kying  w^ould  say  to  him,  "Come,  let  us 
take  a  bundle  of  tracts  and  sfo  to  such  a  villaofe  and 
preach;  or  let  us  go  and  visit  such  a  family  or  person, 
and  come  home  and  have  dinner  with  me. "  He  thus 
trained  his  people  in  such  a  manner,  that  they  re- 
semble more  what  is  said  of  the  early  disciples,  who 
•  'went  everywhere  preaching  the  word,"  than  any 
church  with  which  I  am  acquainted,  whether  at  home 
or  here  As  a  pastor  he  had  few  superiors;  he  was 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  state  of  his  flock, 
and  sympathized  with  them  in  all  their  troubles, 
whether  spiritual  or  temporal.  It  was  not  fully  known 
till  after  his  death  how  much    he   had   helped   the 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  187 

poor  of  his  charge,  out  of  his  own  limited  salary  of 
$10.50  (ten  dollars  and  a  half)  a  month.  He  man- 
aged, too,  to  know  much  about  every  inquirer  be- 
fore he  or  she  made  application  for  baptism.  At  a 
communion  season  some  time  ago,  when  a  young 
man  was  examined  for  admission  to  the  church,  the 
foreign  member  of  the  mission,  who  was  Mr.  Kying's 
co-pastor,  was  pleased  with  the  understanding  and 
answers  of  the  lad,  and  thought  that  he  ought  to  be 
baptized.  Mr.  Kying  replied  that  it  was  true  that 
the  lad  knew  a  great  deal  about  the  Gospel,  but  he 
ivould  tell  lies;  he  was  not  baptized,  and  it  was  not 
long  after  when  he  was  detected  in  such  a  complica- 
tion of  lies  and  dishonesty,  that  he  had  to  leave  the 
neighborhood,  and  he  has  not  been  heard  of  in  it 
since.  Between  the  services  on  the  Sabbath,  he  had 
those  who  did  not  go  home  to  dinner — and  latterly 
very  few  went  home — divided  into  classes;  he  took 
one  class,  his  wife  another,  the  more  advanced  mem- 
bers of  the  church  took  others,  and  thus  an  excel- 
lent effort  was  made  to  instruct  the  church  mem- 
bers in  reading,  singing,  and  Bible  knowledge. 

His  powers  as  a  preacher  were  of  no  ordinary 
kind;  and  considering  the  scanty  help  in  the  way 
of  commentaries  that  our  native  brethren  have  to 
the  understanding  of  the  Bible,  his  preaching  was 
eminently  judicious.  When  he  went  out  by  the 
wayside  to  preach,  he  generally  took  one  of  our 
Lord's  parables  as  the  basis  of  his  remarks,  and  in 
listening  to  some  of  such  discourses,  it  has  often 
been  felt  by  his  foreign  brethren  that  such  an 
adaptation  to  the  universal  wants  of  man  had  never 


l88  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

before  been  seen  in  the  parables.  The  writer  will 
not  soon  forget  a  sermon  which  he  heard  Mr.  Kying 
preach  some  time  ago  from  the  text,  "  Neither  give 
place  to  the  devil."  The  truth  was  presented  in  such 
a  powerful,  striking,  original  manner,  so  thoroughly 
adapted  to  the  audience,  and  was  listened  to  with 
such  attention,  that,  speaking  after  the  manner  of 
men,  it  was  not  at  all  strange  that  his  preaching  pro- 
duced such  results. — Rev.  S.  Dodd. 

[Some  extracts  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  J.  L.  Ne- 
vius  may  be  added  to  Mr.  Dodd's  interesting  sketch ;] 

While  a  mere  boy  and  still  connected  with  the 
boarding  school,  Mr.  Kying  expressed  his  wish  and 
determination  to  devote  his  life  to  the  work  of 
preaching  the  Gospel  to  his  countrymen. 

Before  this  wish  had  been  carried  into  effect,  and 
before  the  foreign  missionaries  were  satisfied  as  to 
his  natural  qualifications  for  the  work  of  the  ministry, 
an  effort  was  made  by  his  uncle  to  induce  him  to 
enter  into  business.  His  uncle  was  an  opium  mer- 
chant of  some  wealth,  and  without  children.  He 
proposed  to  Ling-yiu  to  enter  his  store  with  the 
prospect  of  becoming  a  partner,  promising  to  provide 
for  him  a  comfortable  home,  and  to  furnish  him 
money  to  assist  in  procuring  him  a  wife  of  a  respecta- 
ble family.  This  prospect  of  wealth  and  worldly  ease 
and  happiness  seems  to  have  been  entirely  powerless 
to  shake  him  in  his  resolution  to  devote  himself  to 
Christ's  work.  He  chose  rather  to  teach  a  day  school 
with  a  salary  of  five  dollars  per  month,  and  wait  till 
God  should  open  the  way  for  carrying  out  his  cherished 
purpose. 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  189 

In  the  year  1859,  Ling-yiu  accompanied  me  and  my 
wife  in  our  attempt  to  establish  a  new  station  in  the 
city  of  Hangchau,  about  120  miles  in  the  interior, 
and  containing  about  one  million  of  inhabitants. 
Here  he  mingled  with  all  classes  of  his  countrymen 
and  derived  important  lessons  of  practical  experience 
which  were  of  great  use  to  him  in  after  life.  When 
we  were  obliged  to  leave  the  city  on  account  of  the 
disturbed  relations  of  China  with  foreign  nations  in 
connection  with  the  last  Chinese  war,  he  remained 
and  carried  on  the  work  with  great  zeal  and  prudence, 
until  he  was  forced  to  leave  by  an  incursion  of  the 
Taiping  rebels,  who  took  and  partially  destroyed  the 
city. 

As  a  preacher,  his  discourses  were  eminently  Scrip- 
tural. They  were  also  characterized  by  originality 
of  thought  and  illustration,  and  an  earnest  and  im- 
pressive delivery.  As  a  pastor  he  was  minutely  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  and  circumstances  of 
each  one  of  his  people;  was  in  perfect  sympathy 
with  them,  and  kept  a  strict  watch  over  them.  Per- 
haps his  greatest  gift  as  a  minister  was  his  power  to 
communicate  to  others  his  own  zeal  and  enthusiasm, 
and  to  set  every  member  of  the  church  at  work. 

In  the  latter  part  of  June,  1866,  his  mother,  and 
his  wife,  a  sweet  Christian  woman  and  an  invaluable 
helper  in  the  missionary  work,  were  taken  from  him 
by  death  within  the  short  space  of  three  days.  He 
bowed  submissively  under  the  stroke,  and  supported 
by  faith  and  the  sympathies  of  his  people,  was  con- 
tinuing his  work  without  interruption.  In  a  few 
days  he  was  brought  low  by  the  same  disease.     He 


190  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

was  heard  beseeching  God  for  life,  saying-,  *'  Isit  not 
enough?"  He  pleaded  the  wants  of  the  Yu-yiao  church 
and  of  his  country,  and  solemnly  covenanted,  should 
God  spare  his  life,  to  be  more  entirely  consecrated  to 
his  work.  But  his  work  was  already  done,  and  he 
too  entered  into  rest.  Sad,  sad  indeed,  to  us,  but 
still  sweet.  They  were  pleasant  in  their  lives,  and  in 
death  they  were  not  divided.  As  "these  come 
from  the  land  of  Sinim,"  we  can  almost  hear  their 
joyful  welcome,  "  Well  done,  thou  good  and  faithful 
servant:  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." — 
/.  C.  Z. 

Rev.   John  Lloyd. 

Mr.  Lloyd  was  an  able,  faithful  and  beloved  mis- 
sionary of  the  Board  at  Amoy,  China.  He  was  at- 
tacked by  typhus  fever  on  the  2 2d  of  November, 
184S,  and  on  the  6th  of  December  he  finished  his 
earthly  course.  From  remarks  made  at  his  funeral 
by  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Pohlman,  a  missionary  of  the 
American  Board,  the  following  notice  of  Mr.  Lloyd's 
life,  labors  and  character,  is  taken. 

"The  Rev.  John  Lloyd  was  born  in  Huntingdon 
county.  Pa.,  October  i,  1813.  The  first  fifteen  years 
of  his  life  wxre  spent  at  home,  w^here  he  received  a 
strict  religious  training,  and  as  good  an  education  as 
the  district  school  afforded.  From  his  sixteenth  to 
his  twenty-first  year,  he  acted  as  clerk  in  several  es- 
tablishments, and  improved  all  his  leisure  hours  in 
acquiring  knowledge,  reading  with  aviditv  such  books 
as  came  in  his  v/ay,  especially  those  of  a  historical 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  I9I 

character.  The  pursuits  of  trade  were  not,  however, 
cong-enial  to  his  mind,  and  he  longed  to  go  through  a 
course  of  study.  He  commenced  his  classical  studies 
at  Jefferson  College,  in  the  spring  of  1834.  In  the 
second  session  of  his  collegiate  course,  there  was  a 
powerful  revival  of  religion  at  the  institution,  during 
which  he  became  a  subject  of  renewing  grace.  He 
made  a  public  profession  of  religion  in  March,  1835. 
He  has  often  spoken  of  a  favorite  place  for  prayer  by 
the  side  of  a  fallen  tree  in  a  field,  where  he  retired 
for  communion  with  his  God,  and  enjoyed  many 
precious  seasons  of  devotion.  Between  forty  and 
fifty  persons  made  a  profession  of  their  faith  in 
Christ  at  the  same  time,  one  of  whom  was  the  Rev. 
Walter  M.  Lowrie,  with  whom  our  departed  friend 
formed  a  most  cordial  and  delightful  intimacy,  which 
continued  through  life. 

''In  September,  1839,  Mr.  Lloyd  took  his  degree 
of  A.B.,  and  the  next  year  began  his  studies  with  a 
clergyman,  preparatory  to  entering  the  sacred  minis- 
try. In  1 84 1  he  entered  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Princeton,  N.  J.  In  1844  he  was  licensed  by  the 
Presbytery  of  New  York  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  and  on 
June  22,  of  the  same  year,  he  left  his  native  land  as 
a  missionary  to  the  Chinese,  and  reached  Macao, 
October  22.  He  there  met  Messrs.  Hepburn,  Lowrie 
and  Cole,  of  the  same  mission;  after  consultation 
with  these  brethren,  and  those  who  accompanied 
him,  it  was  decided  that  he  should  proceed  to  Amoy 
with  Doctor  Hepburn,  where  he  arrived  December 
6,  1844. 

"  His  course  from  that  day  to  this  is  well  known  to 


192  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

US  all.  With  earnest  alacrity,  he  devoted  his  energy 
and  time  to  the  acquisition  of  this  difficult  language; 
and  now,  when  he  had  nearly  reached  the  goal  he 
aimed  at,  and  was  becoming  fluent  in  speaking,  it 
pleased  the  Master  to  take  him  to  himself  :  thus  teach- 
ing us,  that  however  well  qualified  we  may  be  to  carry 
forward  the  Lord's  work,  he  can  get  along  without 
us,  and  find  other  agents  to  accomplish  his  purposes. 
' '  To  the  speaker,  Mr.  Lloyd  was  peculiarly  dear  as 
a  family  friend,  and  an  endeared  associate  nearly  all 
the  time  of  his  residence  at  Amoy.  He  was  kind 
and  uniform  in  his  affections,  faithful  in  his  friend- 
ship and  equable  in  his  temperament;  firmly  con- 
scientious in  respect  to  duty,  and  stable  in  his  per- 
sonal religion.  He  was  laborious  in  his  efforts  to 
save  the  souls  of  the  heathen ;  vigorous,  sound  and 
discriminating  in  his  views  of  truth ;  in  short  he  may 
be  characterized  as  humble,  methodical,  persevering, 
devoted  and  conscientious,  a  man  much  beloved,  and 
in  whose  heart  grace  reigned.  He  was  permitted  to 
bear  public  testimony  in  favor  of  Christ  among  the 
Chinese;  for  by  applying  himself  almost  exclusively 
to  the  spoken  language,  he  had  made  good  progress, 
and  could  communicate  religious  truth  freely  to  the 
people,  with  whom  he  was  universally  popular.  Had 
he  lived  longer,  we  had  much  to  hope  for  from  his 
labors." — J.  C.  L. 

Rev.   Isidor  Loewf.nthal. 

Mr.   Loewenthal  was  born  A.D.  1827,  in  the  city 
of    Posen,  in    Prussian    Poland,   of   Jewish  parents. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I93 

He  was  the  eldest  of  a  family  of  eight  children.  His 
father  had  at  heart  little  regard  for  Judaism,  but  ob- 
served, from  custom,  its  principal  rites  and  cere- 
monies. His  mother  was  a  strict  adherent  to  the 
traditions  of  the  Rabbis  (oral  law),  and  instructed 
her  children  carefully  in  the  tenets  of  the  Jewish 
faith,  and  in  the  principles  of  morality. 

His  parents  bestowed  upon  him  a  liberal  educa- 
tion. At  a  very  early  age  he  was  placed  at  a  Jew- 
ish school,  where  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of 
science,  learned  to  read  the  Hebrew  text,  and  to  re- 
peat prayers  he  did  not  understand.  At  this  period, 
though  but  a  child,  he  evinced  that  love  of  books  and 
thirst  for  knowledge  which  characterized  his  maturer 
years. 

From  the  first  he  made  rapid  progress  in  his  stu- 
dies, and  gave  evidence  of  more  than  ordinary  talents. 
After  a  few  years  he  entered  the  gymnasium  in  his 
native  city,  where  he  studied  the  higher  branches  of 
a  liberal  education — the  ancient  classics,  natural 
science,  metaphysics,  mathematics  to  some  extent, 
music,  Hebrew,  and  several  of  the  languages  of 
modern  Europe.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  had 
passed  successfully  through  the  course  of  study  usually 
taught  in  such  institutions.  After  leaving  the  gymna- 
sium he  entered  a  mercantile  house  in  Posen,  as  a 
clerk.  But  merchandising  was  ill-suited  to  his  tastes 
which  were  for  books.  His  hours  of  leisure  from  busi- 
ness were  devoted  to  his  favorite  pursuits.  He  had 
a  strong  desire  to  enter  one  of  the  German  Universi- 
ties, and  had  made  arrangements  to  do  so,  but  was 
prevented  by  the  events  that  led  to  his  emigration  to 


194  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  United  States.  He  formed  associations  with  edu- 
cated young  men  of  his  own  age,  of  Hberal  political 
sentiments,  and  became  complicated  in  political  dif- 
ficulties, by  being  so  rash  as  to  publish  in  one  of  the 
public  journals  a  piece  of  poetry  of  his  own  compo- 
sition, containing  sentiments  adverse  to  the  govern- 
ment. This  brought  him  under  the  notice  of  the 
police,  and,  being  informed  that  he  was  in  danger, 
of  arrest,  he  hastily  fled  from  his  home ;  after  many 
difficulties,  he  reached  Hamburg,  where,  after  much 
embarrassment,  he  procured  a  passport  and  took 
passage  on  board  of  an  English  ship  for  New  York, 
arriving  in  the  autumn  of  1846.  Here  he  was  a 
stranger  in  a  strange  land,  possessed  of  but  little 
means  and  ignorant  of  the  English  language.  He 
made  efforts  to  find  some  employment  in  New  York, 
but  was  unsuccessful.  He  then  visited  Philadelphia, 
where  he  met  with  the  same  want  of  success.  Leav- 
ing Philadelphia,  he  went  to  the  country  and  sought 
employment  from  the  farmers,  offering  his  services 
for  what  they  chose  to  give  him ;  but  he  was  again 
doomed  to  disappointment.  Being  of  diminutive 
stature,  and  having  no  acquaintance  with  farm  w^ork, 
the  farmers  deemed  him  dear  at  any  price.  His  funds 
being  now  nearly  exhausted,  and  every  door  of  em- 
ployment seemingly  closed  against  him,  he  became 
very  despondent.  But,  feeling  the  pressure  of  neces- 
sity to  do  something  for  a  living,  as  the  last  resort 
he  invested  the  little  money  he  had  left  in  a  small 
basket  and  a  few  notions,  and,  w^ith  this  on  his  arm, 
he  started  out  to  the  country  as  a  peddler. 

In  this  capacity,  on  a  cold  day  in  November,  1846, 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I95 

he  came  to  the  house  of  the  late  Rev.  S.  M.  Gayley, 
near  Wilmington,  Del.,  drenched  with  rain  and  suf- 
fering from  the  cold.  He  had  disposed  of  some  of 
his  wares,  and  was  about  to  depart,  when  Mr. 
Gayley,  noticing  that  he  was  thinly  clad,  the  evening 
being  intensely  cold,  gave  him  a  cordial  invitation  to 
spend  the  night  with  him,  which  he  gladly  accepted. 
By  conversation  with  him  during  the  evening  Mr. 
Gayley  discovered  that  his  guest  was  a  young  man 
of  no  ordinary  talents,  and  had  received  an  excellent 
education;  that  he  had  an  extensive  and  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  ancient  classics,  Hebrew,  and 
several  of  the  modern  languages.  His  sympathies 
were  at  once  drawn  out  towards  him.  He  thought  it 
a  pity  that  a  young  man  of  such  talents  and  acquire- 
ments should  be  engaged  as  a  peddler,  when  he  might 
be  more  usefully  employed.  Mr.  Gayley  invited  him 
to  remain  at  his  house,  while  he  would  interest  him- 
self to  secure  him  a  situation  as  a  teacher,  which 
invitation  he  accepted. 

Mr.  Gayley  secured  for  him  the  positipn  of  teacher 
of  French  and  German  in  La  Fayette  College,  where 
Mr.  Loewenthal  entered  upon  his  duties  in  the  be- 
ginning of  January,  1847. 

At  this  time  he  had  but  an  imperfect  knowledge  of 
the  English  language.  With  untiring  industry  he 
addressed  himself  to  its  stud}^,  and,  at  the  close  of 
that  session,  he  could  both  speak  and  write  it  with 
classic  purity.  In  a  very  short  time,  he  acquired  a 
considerable  knowledge  of  English  literature.  He 
was  a  most  indefatigable  student;  not  only  his  hours 
of  leisure  from  college  duties,   but  habitually  ^ong 


196  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

hours  in  the  night,  and  frequently  whole  nights,  were 
devoted  to  study.  His  usual  time  allotted  for  sleep 
was  four  hours.  Possessed  of  an  iron  will,  whatever 
he  resolved  to  do  was  done  if  labor  could  accomplish 
it.  Gifted  with  a  retentive  memory  he  rarely  forgot 
anything  he  read. 

During  his  stay  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Gayley  he 
never  disclosed  his  lineage,  nor  did  Mr.  Gayley  ever 
suspect  him  of  being  a  son  of  Abraham,  until  Mr. 
Loewenthal,  in  a  letter  to  him,  some  time  afterwards, 
informed  him  that  he  was  a  Jew.  It  was  during  his 
residence  there,  that  the  veil  was  taken  away  from 
his  heart,  that  he  received  the  first  religious  im- 
pressions, and  became  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gayley,  in  July, 
1847,  he  informs  him  of  his  conversion  to  Chris- 
tianity, and  he  gives  a  history  of  the  means  employed 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  bringing  about  this  change. 
He  states :  "It  was  by  Providence  I  was  sent  to  your 
door.  When  I  came  to  your  house  it  was  for  worldly 
gain ;  little  did  I  then  think  I  was  to  receive  there 
what  was  infinitely  better.  It  was  at  your  house,  by 
your  earnest  prayers  (at  family  worship) — to  which  I 
first  went  half  from  curiosity,  half  from  politeness 
— by  your  humble  supplications,  that  I  was  first 
awakened  to  apprehend  my  danger,  to  consider  I  had 
an  immortal  soul.  I  began  to  open  the  Bible.  I  was 
astonished.  I  waited  with  eagerness,  morning  and 
evening,  for  the  summons  to  family  worship,  to  hear 
you  pray.  I  was  more  and  more  convinced  I  was 
on  the  wrong  path."  During  the  time  he  was  at 
college,  Mr.  Gayley  corresponded  regularly  with  him, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I97 

and,  although  ignorant  of  what  was  passing  in  his 
mind,  gave  him  religious  counsel.  These  kind  words, 
Mr.  Loewenthal  states  in  the  above  letter,  were  most 
seasonable — were  specially  adapted  to  his  case.  In 
the  following  autumn,  during  the  vacation  of  the 
college,  he  made  a  public  profession  of  his  faith  in 
Christ  as  the  true  Messiah,  was  baptized  by  Mr. 
Gayley,  his  father  in  the  Gospel,  and  received  into 
membership  of  the  Rockland  Presbyterian  Church, 
to  which  Mr.  Gayley  then  ministered.  Mr.  Loewen- 
thal entered  the  Senior  class  of  La  Fayette  College 
in  the  fall  of  1847,  a-^^^  graduated  with  honor.  After 
his  graduation,  he  acted  as  tutor  in  the  college  for 
some  timp,  and  afterwards  as  a  teacher  of  languages 
in  a  school  of  high  order  at  Mount  Holly,  devotmg 
his  leisure  hours  to  philological  studies,  in  which  he 
made  rapid  progress. 

In  the  fall  of  1852  he  resigned  his  situation  at  Mount 
Holly,  and  repaired  to  Princeton.  Theological  stu- 
dies were  much  to  his  taste.  There  he  took  a  high 
stand.  His  public  exercises  were  far  above  medioc- 
rity, and  augured  his  future  eminence.  Whilst 
there  he  still  pursued  his  philological  studies  during 
his  leisure  hours,  and  was  a  contributor  to  the  Biblical 
Repertory.  His  able  articles  published  in  that  quar- 
terly established  his  reputation  as  a  writer.  The 
Society  of  Inquiry  of  the  Seminary  selected  him  as 
their  essayist,  to  read  the  essay  at  their  annual  meet- 
ing at  the  commencement  at  which  his  class  was 
graduated.  His  subject  was,  "  India  as  a  Field  of 
Missions."  It  was  a  masterly  production,  evincing 
great  ability  and  learning.     For  some  time  after  his 


198  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

graduation  at  the  seminary,  he  acted  as  tutor  in 
Nassau  Hall,  which  position  he  filled  with  marked 
ability. 

At  this  time  his  thoughts  were  turned  to  India  as 
the  field  of  his  future  labors,  and  he  received  an  ap- 
pointment to  the  new  mission  to  the  Afghans.  His 
eminent  linguistic  talents  and  acquirements  remark- 
ably fitted  him  for  that  post.  He  was  licensed  in 
1856,  by  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  and  in  August 
of  that  year  he  sailed  for  India.  When  he  arrived, 
late  in  the  autumn,  at  once  he  went  to  Peshawar,  the 
mission  station,  and  immediately  entered  with  ardor 
upon  his  duties.  He  soon  mastered  the  difficult  lan- 
guage of  the  Afghans,  the  Pushto.  He,  acquired 
with  great  rapidity  the  different  languages  and  dia- 
lects of  that  part  of  India;  and  as  soon  as  able  to 
speak  intelligibly  the  languages  of  the  people,  he  dili- 
gently engaged  in  the  active  duties  of  preaching. 
Although  his  missionary  life  was  only  seven  brief 
years,  yet  he  had  translated  and  published  the  whole 
of  the  New  Testament  in  Pushto,  had  nearly  com- 
pleted a  dictionary  of  that  language,  and  he  could 
preach  with  facility  in  Pushto,  Persian,  Cashmeri, 
Hindustani  and  Arabic.  It  is  doubtful  whether  many 
foreigners  in  India  had  a  better  knowledge  of  Asiatic 
literature,  or  a  fuller  acquaintance  with  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  natives,  and  with  Oriental  politics, 
than  he.  He  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  re- 
ligious systems  of  the  people;  and  as  a  disputant  with 
Mohammedans  and  other  religionists  he  was  a  mas- 
ter. He  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  some  of  the  first 
men  in  both  the  civil  and  military  service  in  India; 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  I99 

and  he  had  made  a  valuable  collection  of  manuscripts 
and  rare  books.  The  amount  of  intellectual  labor  he 
accomplished  was  remarkable.  Besides  his  linguistic 
labors,  he  was  actively  engaged  in  preaching  daily  in 
the  bazar,  and  undertook  frequent  itinerancies  into 
the  neighboring  districts;  he  conducted  a  large  cor- 
respondence, and  w^as  a  contributor  to  British  and 
American  quarterlies. 

At  the  early  age  of  thirty-eight,  in  1864,  he  came 
to  his  death  by  violence  at  the  hand  of  his  own  watch- 
man, who  it  is  said  mistook  him,  walking  in  his  gar- 
den at  night,  for  a  robber,  and  fired  at  him,  the  ball 
penetrating  his  forehead.  He  fell  senseless  and  soon 
expired. 

Mr.  Loewenthal  was  under  the  usual  stature,  yet 
in  that  small,  fragile  casket  was  contained  the  jewel 
of  a  mighty  intellect.  His  natural  talents  were  of 
the  first  order,  and  were  assiduously  cultivated  by 
study.  He  possessed  genius  in  the  truest  sense. 
His  mind  was  characterized  by  great  versatility,  he 
having  what  v/as  exceedingly  rare,  a  seemingly  equal 
aptitude  for  all  branches  of  study.  He  excelled  in 
whatever  he  undertook.  He  was  an  accomplished 
musician,  mathematician,  metaphysician,  and  pre- 
eminently a  linguist ;  and  he  stood  in  the  first  rank  as 
a  philologist.  His  learning  was  solid  and  various. 
He  was  a  writer  of  great  elegance  and  power.  His 
style  was  perspicuous,  chaste,  classic,  vigorous  and 
ornate.  In  the  social  circle  he  was  a  charming  com- 
panion ;  he  possessed  a  mind  thoroughly  cultivated, 
and  richly  stored  with  knowledge,  and  genial  humor 
with  fine  conversational  powers.     As  a  Christian,  he 


200  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

was  sincere,  humble,  devout  and  zealous.  He  was, 
in  a  word,  a  man  of  God.  Sad  was  his  death,  and 
irreparable  his  loss  to  the  cause  of  missions.  The 
memory  of  his  many  virtues  is  embalmed  in  the  heart 
of  the  Church  of  which  he  was  an  ornament. — Rev. 
S.  A.  Gay  ley. 

Mrs.  H.  E.  Loomis. 

Mrs.  Loomis,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Charles  L.  Loomis, 
M.D.,  died  at  Corisco,  Africa,  August  20,  1861.  The 
Rev.  W.  Clemens,  writing  soon  afterwards,  spoke  in 
high  terms  of  her  Christian  excellence : 

''  She  whose  death  is  here  noticed,  freely  made  a 
sacrifice  of  all  for  a  missionary  life,  to  toil  for  the 
redemption  of  Africa.  She  decided  for  a  home 
among  the  heathen,  and  to  die  for  Christ,  knowing 
that  she  had  '  in  heaven  a  better  and  an  enduring 
substance. ' 

''On  the  2ist  of  January,  i860,  she  arrived  at  Cor- 
isco, in  company  with  her  husband.  On  the  9th  of 
May  of  the  same  year,  after  having  passed  their  ac- 
climation, they  entered  on  their  work  permanently, 
by  being  appointed  to  the  charge  of  the  station  at 
Evangasimba.  Here  she  labored  patiently  among  a 
strange  people,  v/ho  could  not  appreciate  the  sacrifices 
of  the  servant  of  Christ.  Her  feeble  health  was, 
doubtless,  her  greatest  trial.  Seldom  has  any  one 
been  so  severely  afilicted  with  repeated  attacks  of  fever 
as  fell  to  her  lot.  Naturally  robust,  and  of  a  strong 
constitution,  she  felt  these  attacks  more  severely. 
There  were  no  less  than  eighteen,  two  of  which  were 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  20I 

of  a  malignant  type.  She  was  no  doubt  made  more 
familiar  with  death  by  being  laid  aside  for  a  time. 

"  Though  very  weak  in  body,  her  faith  was  strong 
in  Christ.  On  being  interrogated  whether  she  could 
trust  in  the  merits  of  the  Saviour,  she  promptly  re- 
plied, '  Yes. '  As  there  was  much  doubt  in  our  minds 
whether  she  would  recover,  she  was  asked  if  she 
could  realize  that  the  will  of  God  was  good,  whether 
she  should  recover  or  should  die.  The  same  prompt- 
ness answered  in  the  affirmative.  It  was  evident  she 
had  been  thinking  of  death,  and  preparing  for  the  re- 
sult of  her  sickness.  Her  friends  will  be  gratified  to 
know  that  she  was  free  from  pain.  She  said  she 
knew  she  had  some  fever,  but  no  pain.  On  another 
occasion,   she   remarked,   that   she   had  felt  all    the 

bitterness  of  death,  and  yet  it  was  not  bitter 

It  becoming  more  evident  that  she  could  not  live,  she 
was  asked  if  she  had  any  word  for  friends  in  America. 
She  answered,  that  she  had  desired  to  see  them, 
and  especially  her  mother,  once  more,  but  it  was  im- 
material now ;  they  would  all  soon  follow  her.  She 
never  regretted  coming  to  Africa. 

• '  She  so  far  revived  as  to  communicate  v/ith  her 
husband.  By  request  he  sang  part  of  the  hymn, 
'There  is  rest  for  the  weary.'  Her  soul  could  sing, 
though  her  lips  could  not.  She  united  by  humming 
the  chorus,  '  There  is  rest  for  the  weary,  there  is  rest 
for  you. '  In  this  peaceful  state  of  mind  she  left  us 
on  the  morning  of  the  20th  of  August,  at  four  o'clock, 
to  rest  from  her  labors  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan, 
which  she  had  almost  reached  while  conversing  with 
us.     We  bade  her  adieu  with  the  benediction  of  the 


202  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Spirit — *  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth :  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may 
rest  from  tlieir  labors;  and  their  works  do  follow 
them. ' 

''  She  now  rests  sweetly  in  the  graveyard  at  Evang- 
asimba,  beneath  a  tree  whose  branches  overshadow 
similar  forms,  who  died  in  the  same  faith. " — J.  C  L. 


Rev.  a.  W.  Loomis,  D.D. 

We  are  called  upon  to  record  the  unexpected  death 
on  July  26,  1 89 1,  after  a  very  brief  illness,  of  Rev. 
Augustus  W.  Loomis,  D.D.,  of  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
He  first  went  as  a  missionary  to  China  in  1844,  and 
was  there  until  1S50.  In  1852  he  began  mission  work 
among  the  Creek  Indians  and  Vv^as  with  them  about  a 
year.  In  1859  he  was  called  to  take  charge  of  the 
Chinese  work  in  California,  in  which  department  of 
Christian  missions  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  Dr.  Loomis  published  several  important  works 
in  connection  with  Chinese  missions,  and  his  whole 
work  is  of  the  highest  value.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
intellectual  attainments  and  it  will  be  difficult  to  sup- 
ply his  place  in  our  missionary  force. — ChurcJi  at 
Home  and  Abroad^  September,  1891. 

The  Foreign  Missionary  of  November,  1884,  sent 
its  congratulations  "across  the  continent  to  Dr. 
Loomis  on  the  completion  of  twenty-five  years  of 
labor  among  the  Chinese  in  California.  No  wonder 
that  his  last  annivcisary,  September  15,  was  a  /oyful 
day.     We    see  it  all — the    tasteful    decorations,   the 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  203 

flags  and  wreaths  and  flowers,  and  best  of  all  the 
Christian  Chinese  gathered  to  give  thanks  to  their 
faithful  pastor  and  to  the  Saviour  who  had  sent  him, 
and  cheered  him  through  the  early  years  of  neglect 
and  discouragement  and  enabled  him,  despite  all  the 
abuse,  which  they  have  encountered,  to  gather  nearly 
two  hundred  Chinese  converts  into  the  Church  and 
to  fix  the  truth  of  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  hundreds 
more. " 

Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Loomis. 

Died  in  Cazenovia,  N.  Y.,  December  12,  1866,  Mrs. 
Mary  Ann  Luce,  wife  of  Rev.  A.  W.  Loomis,  of  San 
Francisco,  Cal. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Loomis  went  out  to  China  in  1844, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. After  laboring  there  six  years  they  were  com- 
pelled to  return  to  this  country  on  account  of  ill 
health.  Partially  recovered,  they  undertook  the  same 
service  among  the  missions  of  the  Board  in  the  Indian 
Territory,  which  they  were  compelled  to  abandon 
for  the  same  cause.  Then,  after  laboring  some  years 
in  the  home  missionary  work  in  Illinois,  they  were 
sent  to  reside  at  San  Francisco  to  labor  among  the 
Chinese  on  the  Pacific  coast.  Here  they  lived  and 
labored  six  years  or  more.  Last  spring  Mrs.  Loomis' 
ill  health  again  made  a  change  necessary,  and  they 
came  East,  hoping  that  rest  and  a  few  months'  resi- 
dence in  a  different  climate  would  restore  her  wonted 
vigor.  But  the  Lord  had  ordered  otherwise.  She 
was  past  recovery,  and  continued  to  fail  gradually, 


204  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

and  rapidly  at  the  last,  till  her  death.  Her  many 
friends  in  China,  California  and  the  other  States,  will 
be  glad  to  know  that  her  death  was  fully  in  accord- 
ance with  her  faithful,  devout,  quiet  and  self-sacrific- 
ing life. 

Mrs.  Loomis  was  born  in  Winfield,  N.  Y. ,  in 
1815.  She  early  made  a  profession  of  religion. 
There  was  nothing  striking  about  her  death  to  note 
except  that  when  past  the  power  of  utterance  she 
turned  her  eyes  towards  her  husband,  as  if  to  arrest 
his  attention,  and  then  looking  away  fixedly  in  another 
direction,  an  expression  of  great  satisfaction  spread 
over  her  countenance,  as  if  she  already  beheld  * '  the 
King  in  his  beauty  "  and  so  fell  asleep. — Rev.  H. 
Kendall,  D.D. 

Mrs.  Olivia  Loughridge. 

Mrs.  Loughridge,  wife  of  Rev.  Robert  M.  Lough- 
ridge, of  the  Creek  Mission,  died  September  17, 
1845.  *' The  call  from  her  heavenly  Father  found 
her  in  her  Saviour's  vineyard  engaged  in  labors  of 
love  and  mercy." — Annual  Report,  1846. 

Mrs.  Mary  A.  Loughridge. 

Mrs.  Loughridge,  second  wife  of  Mr.  Loughridge, 
died  January  25,  1850,  at  Tallahassee,  in  the  Creek 
Nation.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Avery, 
of  Conway,  Mass.,  born  December  13,  1819.  She 
spent  four  years  in  the  Cherokee  Nation,  laboring 
assiduously^  as  long  as  her  health  permitted,  as  a 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  20$ 

teacher  of  the  mission  school  at  Park  Hill.  Return- 
ing to  her  father's  house  she  was  married  to  Mr. 
Loughridge,  of  the  Creek  Mission,  on  4th  Decem- 
ber, 1846,  and  resumed  her  missionary  labors. 
*'■  Her  eminent  qualifications  for  the  work  made  her 
loss  in  the  present  circumstances  of  the  mission  to  be 
severely  felt.  Whilst  we  mourn  for  her  removal  in 
the  prime  of  life  from  a  sphere  of  so  much  useful- 
ness, we  bless  God  that  she  was  permitted  to  do  so 
much  for  the  best  interests  of  the  Indian  children 
and  youth  for  whom  she  labored  and  for  whom  she 
prayed." — Annual  Report^  1S50,  and  Record^  July, 
1850. 

Mrs,  Louisa  A.  Lowrie. 

Mrs.  Lowrie,  wife  of  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie,  was  a 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Wilson  and  Mary,  his 
wife,  of  Morgantown,  Va.,  and  sister  of  the  Hon. 
Edgar  C.  Wilson,  of  the  same  place,  in  whose  family 
she  had  her  home  after  the  death  of  her  father  and 
mother.  She  departed  this  life  in  Calcutta,  Novem- 
ber 21,  1833,  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  her  age. 
Her  last  hours  were  full  of  peace.  A  memoir  was 
prepared  by  her  former  pastor.  Rev.  A.  G.  Fairchild, 
D.D.,  of  which  editions  were  printed  in  Pittsburgh, 
Philadelphia  and  London. — •/.  C.  L. 

Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie  and  William  Reed,  and  their 
wives,  the  first  missionaries  from  the  Western  For- 
eign Missionary  Society,  embarked  for  India  in  the 
ship  Star,  on  30th  May,  1833,  and  arrived  at 
Madeira  on  the  24th  of  June  following.     The  tern- 


2o6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

porary  abode  of  the  missionaries  at  that  fertile  and 
lovely  spot  in  the  ocean,  tended  not  only  to  mitigate 
the  fatigues  of  a  long  sea  voyage  but  somewhat  to 
recruit  the  strength  of  Mrs.  Lowrie,  whose  health 
had  begun  to  be  so  far  impaired  during  the  last  few 
weeks  of  her  residence  in  this  country  as  to  threaten 
a  permanent  pulmonary  affection.  The  voyage  was 
resumed  on  the  15th  of  July,  and  the  Star  arrived 
in  the  port  of  Calcutta  on  the  15th  of  October.  The 
change  of  air  incident  to  her  passage  into  the  south- 
ern hemisphere  and  severe  gales  in  doubling  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  appeared  to  confirm  all  the  fears 
which  had  been  entertained  as  to  the  character  of 
Mrs.  Lowrie's  illness,  and  from  that  period  she  began 
gradually  to  waste  away,  so  that  before  the  arrival 
of  the  Star  in  port  all  hopes  of  her  recovery  were 
blasted. 

The  mission  was  immediately  received  into  the 
family  of  Rev.  William  H.  Pearce,  and  in  the  midst 
of  their  assiduous  attentions  Mrs.  Lowrie  lingered 
until  the  21st  of  November,  when  she  expired,  and 
her  mortal  remains  were  borne  to  the  house  appointed 
for  all  living. 

Her  desires  to  devote  herself  to  the  spiritual  good 
of  the  heathen  were  fervent,  and  her  qualifications 
for  the  station  were  to  human  view  uncommon,  but 
God  for  whose  glory  she  left  her  native  land  and  bore 
her  feeble,  exhausted  frame  half  round  the  globe, 
was  pleased,  doubtless  for  wise  reasons,  to  disappoint 
her  earthly  hopes  and  to  require  her  earthly  associates 
a  few  short  weeks  after  their  arrival  to  consign  her  to 
the  dust,  there  to  proclaim,  as  she  sleeps  in  Jesus  on 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  20/ 

India's  distant  shores,  the  compassion  of  American 
Christians  for  its  miUions  of  degraded  idolators  ; 
and  to  invite  others  from  her  native  land  to  come 
and  prosecute  the  noble  undertaking-  in  which  she 
fell— Rev.  E.  P.  Swift,  D.D. 

Rev.  Walter  M.  Lowrie. 

Mr.  Walter  M.  Lowrie,  the  third  son  of  the  Hon. 
Walter  Lowrie,  and  Amelia  his  wife,  was  born  in 
Butler,  Pa.,  February  i8,  1819.  He  pursued  his 
studies  at  Jefferson  College,  graduating  with  the  first 
honor,  and  at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  He 
went  to  China  as  a  missionary  in  1842.  The  Memoir 
of  his  Life,  published  by  the  Messrs.  Carter,  New 
York,  and  the  Board  of  Publication,  Philadelphia, 
may  be  referred  to  for  much  general  information 
concerning  the  early  history  of  the  missions  of  the 
Board  in  China,  and  for  particular  information  con- 
cerning Mr.  Lowrie's  work  as  a  missionary,  and  his 
death  by  the  hand  of  Chinese  pirates,  August  1 8,  1 847. 

One  of  his  associates  in  the  mission,  himself  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  devoted  of  the  servants  of  Christ 
who  have  gone  to  China,  thus  wrote  of  him : 

"The  deceased  was  in  no  ordinary  measure  en- 
deared to  his  fellow-men.  He  was  a  man  of  eminent 
talents  and  an  accomplished  scholar,  an  able  minister 
of  the  Gospel,  and  a  faithful  and  devoted  mission- 
ary."—/. C.  L. 

Rev.  Reuben  Lowrie. 

Mr.  Reuben  Lowrie  was  born  of  the  same  parents, 
in  Butler,  November  24,  1827.     He  had  looked  for- 


2o8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

ward  to  being  associated  with  his  brother,  Walter,  in 
the  work  of  missions.  After  his  brother's  death,  he 
felt  it  to  be  his  duty  to  go  out  in  order  to  take  his 
place,  as  far  as  practicable.  After  graduating  at 
the  University  of  New  York,  and  finishing  the  usual 
course  of  theological  study  at  Princeton,  he  spent 
some  time  at  teaching,  with  a  view  to  his  more  com- 
plete preparation  for  the  expected  work  of  his  life, 
and  he  gave  a  few  months  to  the  assistance  of  the 
brethren  in  one  of  the  southwestern  Indian  missions. 
In  1854,  he  went  with  his  wife  to  China,  and  on 
April  26,  i860,  he  entered  into  rest.  He  had  been 
advised  to  seek  renewed  health  by  a  visit  to  his 
native  country,  and  this  measure  might  have  proved 
successful ;  but  his  reply  to  his  friends  was  that  he 
would  not  leave  China  until  he  had  ' '  looked  death 
in  the  face."     It  was  then  too  late. 

The  R-ev.  Dr.  Culbertson,  with  whom  he  was  asso- 
ciated for  several  years  at  Shanghai,  thus  wrote  of 
him  the  day  after  his  death : 

''His  end  was  peace.  He  had  a  long  and  very 
trying  struggle  for  life,  and  was  anxious  to  live,  but 
there  has  been  no  quarreling  with  the  will  of  God. 
He  did  not  cling  to  life  for  the  sake  of  life.  There 
was  no  hankering  after  this  world.  It  was  not  even 
anxiety  for  his  family  that  caused  him  most  grief. 
It  was  the  giving  up  of  his  chosen  work,  as  a  mission- 
ary of  Christ,  that  distressed  him.  The  sting  of 
death  was  taken  away.  He  had  no  fear  as  to  the 
future,  but  the  agony  of  giving  up  this  work,  of 
leaving  undone  the  task  he  had  marked  out  for  him- 
self, of  leaving  the  heathen  for  whose  salvation  he 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  209 

had  so  earnestly  labored,  without  seeing  them 
brought  to  Christ,  this  seemed  like  piercing  his 
vitals  with  a  sword.  Yet  no  murmur  ever  escaped 
his  lips.  In  all  his  sickness,  though  often  suffering 
from  great  nervousness,  he  uttered  no  complaint. 
Though  sometimes  despairing  of  life,  he  had  no 
desire  but  that  the  will  of  God  should  be  done.  A 
few  weeks  since  he  told  me  that  he  would  not  be  sur- 
prised to  find  himself  suddenly  brought  to  death's 
door,  and  about  that  time,  in  writing  a  note,  told 
me  he  was  '  resting  in  the  arms  of  infinite  sufficiency. ' 
Lately,  however,  he  has  expressed  himself  to  some 
of  the  other  brethren  as  being  in  darkness — not 
that  he  was  in  doubt  as  to  his  spiritual  state,  but  that 
he  did  not  enjoy  the  light  of  God's  countenance  as 
he  wished.  This,  however,  passed  away,  and  the 
day  before  his  death  he  seemed  to  rejoice  in  God 
though  he  could  say  but  little. 

''We  all  feel  his  loss  very  deeply,  and  our  mission- 
ary brethren,  of  all  denominations,  mourn  our  be- 
reavement as  a  heavy  loss  to  the  missionary  cause. 
He  was  loved,  tenderly  loved,  by  all  his  brethren, 
and  all  feel  that  it  will  be  long  before  his  place  in  our 
circle  can  be  supplied." 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Shanghai  Missionary  Confer- 
ence, held  at  the  church  mission  school-house,  on 
Monday  evening,  the  21st  of  May,  1S60 — the  Rev. 
E.  C.  Bridgman,  D.D.,  President,  in  the  chair: 

"The  Rev.  John  vS.  Burdon,  of  the  EngHsh 
Church  Missionary  Society,  called  the  attention  of 
the  Conference  to  the  solemn  event  that  had  hap- 
pened  since  their  last  meeting — the   death    of   the 


2IO  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Rev.  Reuben  Lowrie — and  proposed  the  following- 
Minute  in  reference  to  it: 

"That  this  Conference,  having  heard  with  heart- 
felt sorrow  of  the  recent  removal,  by  death,  of  the 
Rev.  Reuben  Lowrie,  Missionary  of  the  American 
Presbyterian  Board  to  Shanghai,  and  member  of 
the  Shanghai  Missionary  Conference,  record  their 
sense  of  the  loss  that  the  cause  of  Christ  in  China 
has  thereby  sustained. 

"  Mr.  Lowrie,  just  as  he  was  entering  on  the  use- 
ful career  which  seemed  before  him,  was  called  to 
his  rest  on  the  26th  of  April,  i860,  after  a  residence 
of  only  five  and  a  half  years  in  China.  His  deep, 
earnest  piety,  his  sound  scholarship,  his  experience 
of  missionary  work  among  the  Choctaw  Indians 
before  coming  to  China,  and  his  unwavering  devoted- 
ness  to  the  early-formed  purpose  of  his  life,  even 
amid  the  ravages  of  disease — peculiarly  fitted  him 
for  the  work  of  a  Chinese  missionary.  But  '  the 
Lord  had  need  of  him.  ; '  and  while  we  bow  in  sub- 
mission to  the  divine  appointment,  we  would  desire 
to  express  our  deepest  sympathy  with  the  widow  and 
famiily  of  our  beloved  brother,  thus  so  sorely  be- 
reaved; and  pray  that  they  may  be  enabled,  in  this 
their  hour  of  need,  to  realize  the  full  blessing  of  sanc- 
tified affliction. 

"  This  resolution  was  seconded  by  the  Rev.  W.  G. 
E.  Cunningham,  of  the  American  Southern  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Mission;  and,  after  a  few  appropriate 
remarks  by  the  President,  was  passed  unanimously. 

"  In  order  further  to  manifest  our  sympathy  with 
the  family  of  Mr.  Lowrie  both  in  China  and  America, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  211 

it  was  proposed  by  the  Rev.  Cleveland  Keith,  of 
the  American  Episcopal  Church,  and  seconded  by 
the  Rev,  J.  L.  Holmes,  of  the  American  Southern 
Baptist  Church,  and  unanimously  agreed  to: 

''That  the  Acting  Secretary  for  the  evening  be 
requested  to  write,  in  the  name  of  this  Conference, 
letters  of  condolence  to  the  widow  and  the  father  of 
the  late  Rev.  Reuben  Lowrie,  enclosing  the  resolution 
just  passed  for  their  acceptance,  as  a  slight  token  of 
respect  and  love  for  the  departed,  and  sympathy  with 
the  bereaved." 


Rev.  James  L.  Mackey. 

Mr.  Mackey  was  born  in  Lancaster  county,  Pa. 
He  was  trained  by  pious  parents,  and  exhibited 
through  life  the  benefits  of  that  training  in  an  early 
surrender  of  his  heart  to  Jesus,  and  an  entire  conse- 
cration of  his  life  to  him,  in  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry.  He  passed,  with  a  brave  heart,  through 
the  trials  and  struggles  common  to  young  candidates 
seeking  a  preparation  for  that  office.  He  spent  some 
3^ears  in  teaching  in  Strasburg,  New  London,  and 
elsewhere,  and  on  completing  his  studies,  offered 
himself  to  our  Board  to  be  one  of  two  to  go  to  Africa, 
and  there,  under  the  burning  equator,  on  the  Island 
of  Corisco,  to  found  a  new  mission,  and  thus  to  re- 
spond to  the  call  of  Ethiopia,  stretching  out  her  hands 
unto  God.  The  better  to  fit  himself  for  this  work,  he 
devoted  some  time  to  the  study  of  medicine — the 
knowledge  of  which  often  proved  of  great  service  to 


212  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

himself,  to  the  mission,  to  the  natives,  and  to  sick 
seamen  and  strangers  cast  upon  his  care. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  detail  the  many  and  varied 
trials  and  dangers  through  which  he  was  called  to 
pass  during  the  fifteen  years  of  his  sojourn  in  that 
dark  land — literally,  as  with  Paul,  the  perils  of  waters, 
the  perils  of  robbers,  the  perils  by  the  heathen,  in 
the  wilderness,  in  the  sea,  among  false  brethren  ;  the 
weariness  and  painfulness,  the  watchings,  the  hunger 
and  thirst,  the  heat  and  sickness,  and,  besides  all 
these,  that  which  came  upon  him  daily,  the  care  of 
all  the  churches  and  the  schools,  and  the  manage- 
ment of  the  mission.  Those  were  gloomy  days  when, 
so  soon,  he  was  bereft  by  death  of  his  beloved  part- 
ner; and  when  his  associates,  Brother  Simpson  and 
his  wife,  sunk,  with  the  vessel  in  which  they  sailed, 
into  the  deep  Atlantic,  and  left  him  alone  with  Jesus 
to  bear  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day. 

But  brighter  days  came  and  God  smiled  upon  his 
work.  Other  laborers  arrived,  the  mission  prospered, 
and  this  man  of  God  was  spared  to  see  such  changes 
as  gladdened  his  heart.  A  debilitating  climate,  how- 
ever, did  its  work,  gradually  tmdermining  his  once 
vigorous  health,  and  after  different  visits  to  his  native 
land,  with  the  hope  of  regaining  it,  two  years  ago  he 
crossed  the  Atlantic  for  the  eighth  and  the  last  time, 
a  broken-down  missionary,  leaving  his  heart  in 
Africa,  and  ever  yearning  to  return  to  the  people  and 
the  brethren,  and  the  work  he  loved  so  well.  After 
a  half  year's  rest,  his  energetic  mind,  too  active  for 
its  frail  body,  refused  to  be  idle.  He  thought  he 
could  still  do  something  for  his  fellow-men,  and  for 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  213 

his  Master,  and  so  he  took  charge  of  the  New  London 
Academy,  and  returned  to  his  early  employment  of 
teaching.  In  this  work  he  continued  until  the  close 
of  life,  dragging  his  weary  frame  along  to  the  school 
when  many  would  have  taken  to  their  bed. 

His  end  was  very  calm  and  peaceful.  His  opinion 
of  himself  was  truly  humble;  but  his  confidence  in 
Jesus  was  entire.  No  cloud  came  between  him  and 
his  Saviour.  He  died  at  New  London,  Pa. ,  April  30, 
1867,  in  the  forty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  beloved  by 
all  who  had  known  him,  and  lamented  by  the  Church 
which  he  had  so  faithfully  served.  His  body  was 
borne  to  the  grave  by  a  large  number  of  Christian 
ministers  and  others,  whilst  his  soul  had  gone  up 
higher  to  meet  his  Lord,  and  to  wear  the  missionary's, 
if  not  the  martyr's,  crown.  He  leaves  behind  him  a 
mother,  brothers,  sisters,  and  a  bereaved  widow,  who 
shared  with  him,  for  many  years,  the  toils,  the  perils 
and  the  joys  of  a  missionary's  life. — Rev.  Robert  P. 
Die  Bois. 

Mrs.  James  L.  Mackey. 

Mrs.  Macke)^,  wife  of  Rev.  James  L.  Mackey,  of 
the  Corisco  Mission,  died  March  11,  1850.  Her 
disease  was  of  an  apoplectic  nature,  and  as  her  hus- 
band writes,  "not  occasioned  by  her  coming  to 
Africa."  He  adds:  ''A  few  days  before  her  de- 
parture we  talked  of  the  subject  of  death  and  of  our 
hopes  of  eternal  life  through  our  Saviour.  She  ex- 
pressed to  me  her  willingness  to  depart  whenever  her 
divine  Master  should  call  her.      Her  affection  was  set 


214  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

on  things  above.  She  wished  to  Hve  only  for  the 
honor  and  glory  of  God ;  but  he  who  doeth  all  things 
well  hath  called  her  to  a  higher  sphere." — Record^ 
August,  1850. 

Mrs.  Robert  M.  Mateer. 

Died  at  Wei  Hien,  China,  in  April,  1886,  Mrs. 
Robert  M.  Mateer,  nee  Archibald.  Mrs.  Mateer  had 
been  but  five  years  on  the  mission  field.  She  had 
expected  to  devote  her  life  to  the  mission  work  among 
the  Laos;  but  being  called  to  share  the  labors  of 
Rev.  Robert  M.  Mateer,  she  cast  in  her  lot  with  great 
heartiness  and  a  missionary  spirit  among  the  people 
of  Central  Shantung.  No  biography  could  be  more 
comprehensive  or  touching  than  the  following  refer- 
ence from  Mrs.  C.  W.  Mateer,  dated  April  17:  ''You 
will  hear  through  this  mail  the  sad  event  at  Wei 
Hien.  But  for  my  illness  I  should  now  be  there. 
God  gave  me  this  sister  when  he  took  Mrs.  Capp  from 
me  to  her  heavenly  rest,  and  she  has  been  very,  very 
dear  to  me.  I  have  known  self-devotion  and  untiring 
zeal,  but  I  have  nowhere  else  seen  such  untiring  self- 
forgetfulness  as  in  Mrs.  Robert  M.  Mateer." 

A  stricken  husband  and  a  little  daughter  are  left 
to  mourn  her  loss,  and  many  friends  in  this  country, 
as  well  as  the  entire  mission,  will  sympathize  with 
their  grief. — Foreign  Missionary^  J^ily,  1886. 

Miss  Sue  L.  McBeth. 

On  Friday,  May  26,  1893,  Miss  McBeth,  the  senior 
missionary  among  the  Nez  Perces,  died  at  Mt.  Idaho. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  21  5 

She  was  a  woman  of  apostolic  zeal,  and  has  left 
her  own  imperishable  monument  in  the  renewed 
lives  of  the  majority  of  the  Indian  ministers  and  a 
very  large  number  of  the  men  and  women  of  this 
reservation.  She  had  the  personal  instruction  of 
all  the  ministers  among  this  people  for  twenty  years 
past.  A  due  notice  of  her  labors  would  make  a 
volume.  But  her  departure  leaves  a  vacancy  that 
will  be  exceedingly  difficult  to  fill.  Her  sister,  Miss 
Kate  McBeth,  is  well  qualified  by  her  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  people  and  their  language  to  carry  on  her 
work. — The  CJiurcJi  at  Home  and  Abroad^  J^l7>  1^93- 


Rev.  William  E.  McChestney. 

On  November  i,  1869,  Rev.  William  E.  McChest- 
ney sailed  with  his  wife  and  other  missionaries  from 
New  York  to  Canton,  China,  where  they  arrived  in 
January,  1870.  Mr.  McChestney  was  a  graduate  of 
the  college  and  seminary  at  Princeton,  and  a  member 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Monmouth.  He  united  with  the 
church  during  his  college  course  in  1864.  On  his  ar- 
rival at  Canton  he  gave  himself  to  a  diligent  study  of 
the  language,  and  was  able  to  speak  to  the  people,  in 
their  own  tongue,  the  wonderful  words  of  God. 

On  the  9th  of  July,  1872,  while  on  a  visit  to  one  of 
the  outstations  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Noyes,  and  while 
sitting  in  their  boat,  a  stray  shot  from  a  pirate  vessel 
struck  him  in  the  head,  after  which  he  never  spoke. 
"The  following  day,  "writes  Dr.  Happer,  ''asthesun 
set  behind  the  western  hills,  we  committed  his  mortal 


2l6  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

remains  to  the  faithful  tomb  to  await  the  resurrection. 
Thus  suddenl}^  has  death  seized  one  of  our  number 
from  our  side.  One  evening  he  is  preaching  to  a 
crowd  of  villagers,  and  on  the  next  evening  his  body 

lies  in  the  silent   grave Our    brother   had 

grown  in  grace  and  spirituality  of  mind  and  of  heart, 
and  we  had  fondly  hoped  it  was  in  preparation  for  use- 
fulness among  this  people.  But  in  the  providence  of 
God  it  appears  to  have  been  with  reference  to  his 
early  removal  to  the  service  of  the  sanctuary  above. " 
— Foreign  Missionary^  October,  1872. 


Rev.  Jasper  S.  McIlvaine. 

On  the  2d  of  February,  1881,  the  Shantung  Mission 
was  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of  Rev.  Jasper  S. 
McIlvaine,  of  the  Chenanfoo  station.  Mr.  McIlvaine 
had  been  connected  with  the  mission  about  eleven 
years,  and  had  distinguished  himself  not  only  by  his 
scholarship,  but  by  his  self-denial  and  consecration  to 
his  work.  He  had  been  the  pioneer  missionary  in 
the  interior  station  of  Chenanfoo,  having  gone  thither 
in  187 1,  attended  only  by  a  native  helper.  When 
others  had  joined  him  at  that  station  he  extended 
his  labors  into  places  still  further  from  the  coast, 
and  had  succeeded  in  creating  an  interest  in  the 
truth,  over  an  extended  district  in  Central  China. 
Mr.  McIlvaine  shared  in  the  personal  distribution  of 
funds  contributed  for  the  sufferers  by  famine  in  the 
years  1878  and  1879.  One  of  his  last  acts  was  to  pur- 
chase with  private  funds  a  chapel  in  Chenanfoo  for  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  21J 

use  of  the  mission  (costing  $5000),  wishing,  as  he  ex- 
pressed it,  "to  set  up  a  beacon  light  for  the  whole 
province  on  the  great  thoroughfare  of  the  capital." 

Mr.  Mcllvaine  was  a  native  of  New  Jei'sey,  born 
in  1844,  and  received  his  education  at  Princeton. 
His  colleague,  Dr.  S.  A.  Hunter,  writes:  "He  has 
had  no  equal  in  North  China  in  many  respects  since 
the  days  of  William  Burns.  Holy,  consecrated  and 
self-denying-,  he  thought  only  of  the  Lord  Jesus  and 

his  work His  end  was  peaceful   and  calm. 

His  soul  rested  on  the  promises.  Much  of  his  time 
was  spent  in  prayer.  When  his  voice  failed  he 
wrote  with  a  pencil,  '  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly. 
Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit.'  " 

He  was  ill  just  a  week.  His  disease  was  pneu- 
monia, contracted  during  a  preaching  tour.  He  said 
during  his  illness:  "  All  the  way  back  from  Peking  I 
had  such  glorious  visions  of  what  God  was  going  to 
do  for  his  Church  in  China.  But  now  I  shall  never 
see  them  accomplished." — Foreign  Missionary^  May, 
1881. 

Miss  Mary  H.  McKean. 

Miss  McKean,  a  member  of  the  church  of  Wash- 
ington, Pa. ,  and  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  tried  and 
valued  teachers  of  the  Creek  Mission,  died  January 
21,  1861.  "  She  had  been  connected  with  the  mission 
between  three  and  four  years,  during  which  she  not 
only  gave  the  Strongest  proofs  of  her  fidelity  to  the 
cause  to  which  she  had  devoted  her  life,  but  won  the 
esteem  and  affection  both  of  her  associates  and  the 


2l8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

children  under  her  care She  gave  the  most 

satisfactory  evidence  that  she  was  prepared  to  die. " 
— Annual  Report^  1861. 

The  Rev.  William  J.  McKee. 

The  Rev.  William  J.  McKee,  for  sixteen  years  a 
missionary  in  connection  with  our  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  died  at  Socorro,  New  Mexico,  July  21,  1894. 
Mr.  McKee  was  a  native  of  Harrisville,  Pa.,  a  gradu- 
ate of  Knox  College,  111.,  and  of  the  Auburn  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  He  had  been  ordained  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Butler,  but  was  connected  with  that  of 
Cayuga  when  commissioned  by  the  Board  to  the 
Central  China  Mission.  He  sailed  for  his  field  of 
labor  November  16,  1878,  and  with  the  exception  of 
a  furlough  home  in  1886-7,  continued  at  his  post  until 
failing  health  compelled  him  to  return  to  the  United 
States  about  a  year  ago.  He  went  with  his  famil)^ 
first  to  Colorado,  and  afterwards  to  New  Mexico,  in 
the  hope  of  regaining  his  health,  but  the  disease 
which  had  fastened  itself  upon  him  was  too  deeply 
seated  to  yield  either  to  climate  or  to  medical  treat- 
ment. Mr.  McKee  was  a  man  of  noble  Christian 
character  and  high  missionary  purpose.  His  great- 
est ambition  was  to  win  souls.  He  had  the  affection 
and  confidence  of  his  missionary  brethren  and  was 
greatly  beloved  by  the  native  Christians,  not  only  in 
Ningpo,  which  was  his  station,  but  also  in  the  out- 
stations  where  he  delighted  to  preach  the  gospel. 
His  death,  like  his  life,  was  beautiful.  The  dear  one 
who  has  shared  the  joys  and  the  labors  of  his  mis- 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  219 

sionary  life,  writes :  ' '  So  long-  as  there  seemed  to  be 
any  ground  of  hope  for  his  recovery,  he  kept  up  his 
spirits  and  conscientiously  did  everything  that  he 
thought  would  tend  to  hasten  recovery;  and  yet  he 
not  infrequently  said  that  '  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ 
is  far  better.*  Ever  since  I  have  known  him,  the 
thought  of  being  with  Christ  has  been  to  him  the  hap- 
piest thought  of  heaven,  and  it  was  the  thought  that 
cheered  him  when  he  knew  he  could  not  live." — N. 
Y.  Evangelist,  September  6,  1894. 

Rev.  Charles  B.  MacLaren. 

This  esteemed  young  brother,  a  graduate  of  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Class  of  1882, 
had  just  entered  upon  what  promised  to  be  a  life  of 
eminent  usefulness  in  Siam,  when  an  early  summons 
came  to  him  to  enter  the  world  of  light.  He  died 
at  Bangkok,  March  4,  1883.  It  is  the  same  mysterious 
dispensation  that  has  so  often  tried  the  faith  of  mis- 
sionaries and  the  friends  of  missions,  and  which  ren- 
ders it  hard  at  first  to  realize  that  the  dispenser  of  all 
good  is  more  deeply  interested  in  the  success  of  his 
kingdom  than  its  most  earnest  supporters  can  possi- 
bly be.  But  God  has  so  often  brought  light  out  of 
darkness  under  such  circumstances;  so  often  made 
the  death  of  a  sainted  and  devoted  missionary  more 
influential  for  good  than  his  life  and  labors  could 
have  been,  that  it  behooves  us  simply  to  go  forward, 
with  no  abatement  of  our  trust.  Not  only  will  the 
mantle  of  young  MacLaren  fall  upon  another,  but  we 
believe  that  the  entire  mission,  brought  thus  face  to 


220  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

face  with  the  issues  of  eternity,  will  be  "lifted  up," 
as  our  dying  friend  expressed  it,  to  a  higher  devotion 
and  a  grander  success.  Mr.  MacLaren  was  a  native 
of  Nova  Scotia,  who  came  to  the  Union  Seminary  to 
complete  his  theological  education.  He  was  a  full 
sharer  in  the  deep  missionary  interest  which  charac- 
terized his  class,  which  led  an  unusual  number  to  de- 
vote themselves  to  the  foreign  field.  We  remember 
him,  from  all  our  interviews  previous  to  his  appoint- 
ment, as  a  young  man  of  gentle  and  winning  man- 
ners, and  seemingly  imbued  with  the  genuine  spirit 
of  the  Master,  His  smiling  face  was  a  benediction, 
and  his  whole  manner  and  bearing  at  once  told,  as 
such  manners  always  do,  upon  the  heathen  of  Bang- 
kok, both  of  high  rank  and  of  low.  Mr.  MacLaren 
leaves  a  young  and  devoted  wife,  who,  in  the  midst 
of  her  early  grief,  promptly  indicates  her  desire  to 
find  solace  in  remaining  on  the  field,  and  carrying 
forward  the  work  which  she  had  hoped  to  share  with 
a  loving  husband. — Foreign  Missionary^  June,  1883. 


Rev.  Gilbert  McMaster. 

Rev.  Gilbert  McMaster,  a  faithful  native  preacher 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Lodiana,  died  at  his  station, 
Saharanpur,  India,  in  1888.  "He  had  spent  twenty 
years  in  the  ministry  and  some  years  previously  as  a 
catechist  and  licentiate  preacher,  when  he  was  called 
from  his  labors  here  to  his  rest  in  heaven.  It  will  be 
difficult  to  fill  his  place  in  Saharanpur." — Anmial 
Report,  1889. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  221 

Mrs.   Theodore  M.   McNair. 

Annette  Gregory,  wire  of  Rev.  Theodore  M.  McNair, 
missionary  of  our  church  at  Tokio,  Japan,  died  Feb- 
ruary II,  1887,  in  her  twenty-ninth  year,  after  more 
than  a  year's  continued  illness.  She  went  with  her 
husband  to  that  field  of  labor  in  December,  1883,  and 
for  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  she  would  be  able  to  bear 
the  work.  In  January,  1886,  she  was  prostrated  by 
typhoid  fever,  which  after  running  an  almost  un- 
precedented course  resulted  in  her  death.  She  has 
left  the  best  of  all  records,  her  work  for  Christ  well 
done,  and  her  burden  of  suffering  well  and  cheerfully 
borne.  Mrs.  McNair  was  a  daughter  of  Henry  D. 
Gregory,  Vice-President  of  Girard  College,  Philadel- 
phia. Her  mother  has  been  long  anci  well  known  in 
both  the  foreign  and  home  mission  work  of  the  church. 
Her  bereaved  family  circle  have  the  heartfelt  sym- 
pathies of  the  Church  and  of  the  Board. — Church  at 
Home  and  Abroad^  May,  1887. 


Rev.  George  McQueen. 

Mr.  McQueen  was  a  native  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y., 
a  graduate  of  Union  College  and  of  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  a  truly  devoted  and  efficient 
missionary  in  Western  Africa.  He  went  to  Corisco 
in  1852.  He  entered  immediately  upon  the  work 
of  the  mission  at  Corisco,  organizing  a  school  of 
native  children,  preaching  by  the  aid  of  an  interpreter 
immediately  upon  his  arrival,  and  devoting  himself 


222  XECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

with  irresistible  energy  to  the  work  which  his  hands 
found  to  do. 

On  the  26th  July,  1S55,  he  was  united  in  mar- 
riage to  Miss  Georgiana  M.  Bliss,  of  Longmeadow, 
Mass.,  formerly  a  much  respected  and  loved  teacher 
in  Schenectady,  who,  with  the  true  spirit  of  mis- 
sionary consecration,  went  out  to  meet  him  on  the 
field,  and  to  share  his  self-denying  labor.  After  re- 
maining at  Corisco  more  than  a  year  and  a  half,  the 
failing  health  of  Mrs.  McQueen  rendered  necessary  a 
return  to  America,  where  they  arrived  in  July,  1857. 
Thus,  by  the  ordering  of  a  kind  Providence,  the 
friends  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McQueen  were  permitted  to 
meet  them,  and  to  look  upon  his  face  for  the  last  time 
on  earth.  June  7,  1858,  they  sailed  upon  their  return 
voyage,  reaching  their  field  of  labor  in  health  and 
safety,  and  the  first  letters  received  by  their  friends 
in  America  were  filled  with  hope  and  promise.  A 
spirit  of  religious  inquiry  seemed  to  pervade  all  who 
had  come  within  the  influence  of  the  school,  and  the 
most  encouraging  prospects  appeared  to  open  be- 
fore the  mission. 

Soon  afterwards,  Mr.  McQueen  was  attacked  by 
the  fever  of  the  coast,  in  so  severe  a  degree  as  to  defy 
all  remedies.  His  mind  was  kept  in  peace.  To  his 
weeping  wife  he  said  :  * '  Remember  who  has  promised 
to  be  the  husband  of  the  widow  and  the  father 
of  the  fatherless."  When  she  asked,  ''What  word 
would  you  have  our  infant  boy  in  America  remember 
from  you  ?"  he  answered,  *' We  have  given  him  to 
God.  If  it  pleases  him  to  spare  his  life,  I  would  have 
him  to  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  to  stand  in  my 


OF  THE   BOARD    OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  223 

place,  that  I  may  have  a  name  in  God's  house. "  He 
then  calmly  informed  his  wife  of  the  arrangements 
he  had  made  for  her  future  comfort  and  that  of  their 
child,  and  commended  them  to  God  in  a  most  fervent 
petition.  He  sent  messages  to  friends  at  home  by 
name,  saying  that  he  should  meet  them  again  soon, 
for  he  was  going  home,  and  praying  earnestly  that 
his  own  family  might  have  grace  to  bow  submissively 
to  this  dispensation  of  the  Father  of  all.  Being  asked 
as  to  the  prospect  before  him,  he  said:  *'  My  hope  is 
not  so  bright  as  I  could  wish,  but  comfortable.  I 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth. "  He  sent  for  one 
of  the  native  boys  and  gave  him  a  message  for  the 
other  boys  of  the  school.  It  was  this:  "  I  came  from 
America  to  tell  you  of  these  things  of  God.  I  have 
lived  as  a  light  among  you.  You  must  tell  your 
people  these  things,  and  live  as  lights  among  them. 
You  must  make  the  salvation  of  your  souls  the  one 
great  thing."  To  the  principal  chief  in  his  district  he 
said,  ' '  Remember  the  words  I  have  told  you — I  am 
going  home." 

Mr.  Mackey,  one  of  his  colleagues,  read  to  him, 
at  his  request,  a  few  verses  of  the  14th  chapter  of 
John.  At  the  end  of  the  third  verse  he  interrupted 
the  reading,  saying,  ' '  That  is  enough.  We  have  the 
promise."  On  Friday  afternoon,  March  25,  1859,  he 
fell  asleep  quietly,  and  a  pleasant  smile  foreshadowed 
the  blessed  rest  upon  which  he  had  entered.  He 
was  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  his  age. — Schenectady 
Reflector. 


224  necrological  record 

Rev.  Robert  McMullin  and  Mrs.  Sarah  C. 

MCMULLIN. 

Mr.  McMullin  was  bom  in  Philadelphia  in  1831,  was 
graduated  at  Pennsylvania  University  and  Princeton 
Theological  Seminary,  and  went  to  India  with  his 
wife,  arriving  at  Calcutta  in  January,  1857,  a  few 
months  before  the  mutiny  of  the  Sepoys  filled  that 
country  with  distress.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McMullin 
enjoyed  the  heritage  of  birth  in  our  best  families,  and 
of  connection  with  many  others  of  like  culture.  They 
had  had  therefore  every  advantage  of  education  and 
religious  training,  and,  inspired  by  sincere  devoted- 
ness  to  Christ,  they  went  forth  to  the  work  of  mis- 
sions enjoying  the  sympathy  of  many  friends,  who 
not  unreasonably  formed  high  expectations  of  their 
usefulness.  Their  days  in  India,  like  those  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Johnson,  were  but  few,  and  ended  in  sor- 
rowful times,  yet  who  shall  say  that  they  lived  and 
died  in  vain  ?  Rather,  who  can  doubt  that  the  exam- 
ple of  these  four  families  of  our  missionary  brethren, 
passing  through  the  fire  of  heathen  rage  to  the  crown 
of  life,  has  not  had  a  blessed  influence  on  the  piety  of 
the  Church  at  home,  like  that  of  the  martyrdom  of 
Stephen  on  the  first  disciples  of  Christ  ?  The  letters 
of  Mrs.  McMullin,  formerly  Miss  Pierson,  of  Paterson, 
N.  J.,  like  those  of  Mrs.  Freeman,  can  never  be  for- 
gotten by  those  who  have  read  them.  See  notices 
above  of  Messrs.  Campbell,  Freeman  and  Johnson, 
also  Mr.  Fullerton's  letters  in  the  Appendix  and  the 
Annual  Report  of  1858. — J.  C.  L. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  225 

Mrs.  Peter  Menkel. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Peter  Menkel,  wife  of  the  cap- 
tain of  the  Nassau^  which  occurred  at  Benito,  June 
i3>  1S93,  cast  quite  a  shadow  over  the  Gaboon  and 
Corisco  Mission,  as  she  had  not  only  endeared  herself 
to  the  missionaries,  but  had  rendered  valuable  ser- 
vices at  Benito.  Mrs.  Menkel  accompanied  her  hus- 
band on  his  return  to  Africa  after  a  visit  to  this  coun- 
try in  1890. — Annual  Report^  1894. 

Mrs.  Charles  R.  Mills. 

On  February  3,  1874,  Mrs.  Charles  R.  Mills,  of 
Tungchow,  China,  died  of  pleurisy  after  an  illness  of 
a  week's  duration.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mills  embarked  for 
Shang-hai  October  14,  1856,  where  they  arrived  Feb- 
ruary 7,  1857.  Mrs.  Mills  had  been  among  the  most 
robust  of  the  female  missionaries  in  China,  and 
seemed  to  give  promise  of  a  long  career  of  useful- 
ness. She  had  been  sanctified  by  affliction,  and  her 
influence  seemed  too  valuable  to  be  lost  by  the  mis- 
sion ;  but  the  inscrutable  wisdom  of  God  has  called 
her  to  her  reward,  leaving  a  family  of  little  children 
in  a  strange  land  without  a  mother's  care,  yet  faith 
was  triumphant  and  her  end  was  peace. — Foreign 
Missionary^  June,  1874. 

Mrs.  F.  V.  Mills. 

Rev.  Frank  V.  Mills  and  wife  went  to  China  in 
1882,  and  were  stationed  at  Hano^chow.     Their  work 


226  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

was  interrupted  by  Mrs.  Mills'  failure  of  health  after 
eight  years'  faithful  service,  during-  which  they  were 
bereaved  of  both  their  children.  They  returned 
home  on  a  furlough  in  1890,  and  Mrs.  Mills  died  at  her 
home  in  Windsor,  Conn.,  February  16,  1891. — An- 
nual Report^  1 89 1. 


Revs.  John  A.  Mitchell  and  R.  W.  Orr. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  appointed  as  a  missionary  to 
China  before  that  country  was  open  to  the  residence 
of  foreigners.  He  and  his  colleague,  the  Rev.  Robert 
W.  Orr,  took  up  their  abode,  therefore,  at  Singa- 
pore, where  a  considerable  emigrant  Chinese  popu- 
lation was  within  reach  of  missionary  efforts.  In  that 
city  Mr.  Mitchell,  who  was  threatened  with  pulmonary 
disease  when  he  left  this  country,  departed  this  life 
October  2,  1838,  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  a  native  of  Tennessee.  He  is  spoken  of  as 
''well  qualified  for  his  work,  and  his  heart  was  wholly 
devoted  to  it.  Thus  possessing  talents  and  grace, 
and  being  in  the  prime  of  his  days,  with  a  vast  field 
of  useful  labor  before  him,  he  gave  great  promise  of 
usefulness;  but  his  sun  went  down  at  noon,  and  the 
church  was  again  taught  its  dependence  on  God." 

His  colleague  gave  the  following  interesting  ac- 
count of  his  last  illness  and  his  happy  religious  ex- 
perience :  ' '  The  grave  had  no  terrors  for  him.  At 
all  times  he  scx^med  to  have  a  calm  and  firm  trust  in 
God,  a  willingness  to  leave  his  soul  in  the  hands  of 
his  vSaviour.      But  he  often   rose  far  above  this,  and 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  22/ 

had  the  most  joyful  and  blessed  anticipations  of  the 
rest  which  remaineth  to  the  people  of  God,  and  ardent 
longings  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ.  Indeed,  he 
told  me  that  he  had  never  enjoyed  so  much  happiness, 
in  the  same  length  of  time,  as  he  had  during  this 
sickness.  He  often  spoke  with  lively  gratitude  of  the 
exceeding  kindness  of  the  Lord  in  providing  for  all 
his  wants,  and  giving  him  grace  to  bear  every  trial 
with  cheerfulness.  He  had  the  habit  of  referring 
everything  to  the  providence  of  God,  so  that  if  any- 
thing turned  out  differently  from  what  he  expected 
or  wished,  he  was  ready  to  say,  '  This  is  the  will  of 
my  heavenly  Father,  and  he  knows  exactly  what  is 
best  for  me. '  When  conversing  with  the  people  of 
God,  or  with  others,  he  loved  to  bear  his  testimony 
to  the  goodness  and  faithfulness  of  the  Lord.  It  was 
the  impression  made  on  all  who  saw  him,  that  his 
spirit  was  ripe  for  heaven.  I  have  never  known  a 
person  of  more  clear  and  undoubted  piety. 

"  In  the  last  few  days  of  his  life  there  was  nothing 
in  his  experience  extraordinary  or  triumphant;  yet 
there  was  what  is  more  desirable — a  firm  and  intelli- 
gent reliance  on  the  atoning  blood  of  Christ,  as  the 
only  remedy  of  the  sinner.  '  Mark  the  perfect  man, 
and  behold  the  upright :  for  the  end  of  that  man  is 
peace. ' 

''  He  often  spoke  of  his  strong  desire  to  preach  the 
gospel  among  the  heathen,  but  generally  concluded 
by  remarking  that  the  Lord  could  accomplish  all  his 
purposes  of  love  without  him,  and  that  he  had  work 
for  him  to  do  in  another  and  more  glorious  state  of 
existence." 


228  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

These  obituary  notices  are  restricted  to  missionaries 
who  died  in  the  service  of  the  Board.  Otherwise  the 
name  of  the  Rev.  Robert  W.  Orr  would  occupy  a 
prominent  place  among  them.  His  health  giving 
way,  he  was  constrained  to  withdraw  from  the  foreign 
field ;  he  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  this 
country,  and  was  a  professor  in  Jefferson  College,  in 
which  he  had  been  graduated  with  the  highest  honor 
of  his  class.  He  was  an  able,  devoted  and  respected 
missionary  and  minister,  and  died  a  few  years  after 
his  return  from  the  East. — J.  C.  L. 


Rev.  William  T.  Morrison. 

Rev.  W.  A.  R  Martin,  D.D.,  of  Peking,  pays  the 
following  tribute  to  his  friend,  and  for  a  short  time 
his  associate  in  the  field,  who  died  December  lo,  1869 : 

'*  Ten  days  ago  we  were  startled  by  the  announce- 
ment, '  Morrison  is  dead. '  The  most  of  us  had  not 
even  heard  of  his  illness;  and  the  melancholy  tidings 
awakened  in  our  midst  such  emotions  as  result  from 
the  combination  of  a  sudden  surprise  with  a  great 
sorrow. 

' '  Never  robust,  his  health  had  been  seemingly  good 
since  his  arrival  in  the  North  ;  and  when  early  in  the 
present  month  he  was  confined  to  his  room  by  an  at- 
tack of  rheumatic  pains,  none  of  his  friends  felt  any 
alarm.  He  was  himself  utterly  unconscious  of  dan- 
ger, conversed  cheerfully  in  the  intervals  of  pain  on 
the  afternoon  of  the  loth,  and  in  the  evening,  ex- 
periencing temporary  relief,  informed  his  wife  that 


OF  THE   BOARD  OF  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  229 

it  would  not  be  necessary  to  trouble  the  doctor  that 
night. 

' '  About  9  p.  M.  he  groaned  heavily  and  muttered, 
as  though  not  well  awake  and  yet  suffering  from  a 
paroxysm  of  uncommon  sharpness.  Relapsing  into 
quiet,  he  was  carefully  covered ;  and  his  wife,  fearful 
of  disturbing  the  repose  which  he  so  much  needed, 
refrained  from  speaking  to  him  through  the  hours  of 
the  night.  He  remained  perfectly  quiet;  and  it  was 
not  until  late  in  the  morning  that  she  essayed  to 
arouse  him,  when,  to  her  horror,  she  grasped  the  icy 
hand  of  a  corpse. 

*'His  spirit  had  taken  its  flight  after  the  brief 
struggle  of  the  previous  evening;  and  2^ post-mortem 
examination  revealed  the  fact — till  then  unsuspected 
— that  he  had  been  suffering  from  disease  of  the 
heart.  Such,  to  human  view,  was  the  untimely  fate 
of  one  whose  future  was  full  of  promise.  Still  young, 
and  newly  entered  on  this  post  of  the  great  field,  we 
anticipated  for  him  a  long  life,  rich  in  productive 
labors.     But  God's  thoughts  are  not  as  ours ! 

"  Endowed  with  a  vigorous,  logical  and  systematic 
mind,  Mr.  Morrison  had  enjoyed  the  advantage  of 
thorough  discipline  in  one  of  the  best  of  our  American 
colleges.  He  entered  the  field  furnished  with  no 
common  preparation ;  and  gave  abundant  proof  of  his 
qualifications,  in  faithful  and  not  fruitless  labors  both 
in  the  south  and  north  of  China. 

''  When  a  man  consecrates  such  a  mind  and  such  a 
heart  to  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  nations,  the 
work  itself  is  one  of  self-denial,  and  it  matters  little 
what  worldly  advantages  he  may  have  left  behind  in 


230  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

order  to  enter  upon  it.  When,  however,  the  mission- 
ary has  also  turned  his  back  on  wealth  and  luxury,  the 
evidences  of  his  sincerity  and  elevation  are  such  as 
the  world  will  more  readily  appreciate. 

' '  Mr.  Morrison  was  reared  amidst  the  affluence  and 
temptations  of  our  commercial  metropolis.  His 
father  a  merchant  (now  retired),  and  his  other  rela- 
tives in  prosperous  business,  he  had  before  his  eyes 
the  dazzling  allurements  of  earthly  gain.  But  like 
one  of  old,  what  things  were  gain  to  him  he  counted 
loss  for  Christ.  No  trace  of  repining  at  his  lot,  or 
regret  for  what  to  others  might  have  seemed  an  im- 
prudent choice,  ever  disturbed  the  serenity  of  his 
mind. 

* '  Nor  was  it  only  on  his  first  embarkation  in  the  mis- 
sionary work  that  he  was  called  to  answer  the  heart- 
searching  question :  '  Lovest  thou  me  more  than 
these  ?'  Worn  with  labor  in  an  unhealthy  climate,  he 
was  compelled  to  return  to  his  native  country  in  such 
a  state  of  bodily  weakness,  that  on  reaching  the 
American  coast  he  was  unable  to  stand  erect.  His 
recovery  was  slow,  but  with  returning  health,  his 
heart  turned  with  an  irresistible  longing  towards  his 
far-off  field.  The  solicitations  of  friends,  and  the 
prospect  of  ease  and  comfort  in  ministerial  life  at 
home,  conspired  in  vain  to  detain  him.  Before  his 
health  was  fully  established  he  set  out  a  second  time 
for  China,  coming  in  this  instance  to  the  more  salu- 
brious regions  of  the  North.  Here  he  labored  but 
little  more  than  a  year,  when  he  was  called  to  his  rest. 

''  Left  alone  in  charge  of  his  station,  he  addressed 
himself  to  his  work  with  such  earnestness  as  greatly 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  23I 

to  impress  both  foreigners  and  natives.  He  was  un- 
commonly careful  and  conscientious  in  preparation 
for  his  pulpit  duties.  Instead  of  satisfying  himself 
with  the  reflection  that  to  a  heathen  audience  he 
might  say  anything  that  came  uppermost  in  his  mind, 
he  was  accustomed  to  prepare  his  discourses  for  the 
handful  of  poor  people  who  frequented  his  chapel, 
with  as  much  patient  assiduity  as  if  they  had  been 
intended  for  the  elite  of  New  York  City. 

''  Having  to  contend  with  the  difficulties  of  a  new 
dialect,  he  wrote  his  sermons  out  carefully  with  the 
aid  of  a  Chinese  teacher;  and  only  a  few  weeks  be- 
fore his  death  I  heard  him  deliver  one  on  the  '  Love 
of  God  in  Christ,'  which,  for  richness  and  felicity  of 
illustration,  I  have  rarely  heard  equaled  in  the  lan- 
guage of  this  people. 

"  His  prayers,  whether  in  Chinese  or  English,  were 
remarkable  for  their  fervor.  And  even  in  saying  a 
grace  at  meat,  his  heart  would  overflow  in  gratitude 
and  praise  for  those  spiritual  mercies,  which  to  him 
were  ever  present  as  a  conscious  living  reality. 

*'  During  the  last  year  of  his  life  he  was  observed 
to  be  growing  in  grace  in  a  very  marked  degree. 
Instrumentally,  this  resulted  in  part  from  his  sense 
of  responsibility  in  entering  a  new  field  with  a  new 
lease  of  life,  and  partly  from  a  conscientious  sancti- 
fication  of  the  Sabbath-day,  reacting  in  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  his  own  soul.  On  that  day  he  refused  to  feed 
on  any  other  fare  than  the  hidden  manna — feasting 
with  delight  on  the  pure  word  of  God,  and  rejecting 
the  miscellaneous  matter  offered  as  Sunday  diet  by 
even  religious  newspapers. 


232  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

"When  called  to  cease  from  his  labors,  Mr.  Mor- 
rison was  thirty-four  years  of  age,  having  labored 
four  years  at  Ningpo,  and  a  year  and  a  half  at  Peking. 
Who  can  tell  how  much  of  the  success  at  the  former 
station  was  due  to  his  godly  example  and  earnest  as- 
siduity in  the  instruction  of  the  native  pastors  ?  At 
the  latter  station  we  are  unable  to  point  to  such  visi- 
ble fruits;  but  we  cannot  refrain  from  thinking  how 
much  he  might  have  accomplished  if  his  life  had  been 
spared.  May  those  who  remain  belike-minded!" — 
Foreign  Missionary^  May,  1870. 


Rev.  John  H.  Morrison,  D.D. 

Tidings  have  been  received  of  the  decease  of  this 
veteran  missionary,  who  died  at  Dehra,  India,  on  the 
1 6th  of  September,  1881.  Dr.  Morrison  entered  the 
missionar}^  work  in  India  in  the  year  1838,  and  thus 
was  entitled  to  a  place  among  the  oldest  missionaries 
of  the  Board.  He  was  characterized  by  great  earnest- 
ness and  boldness  in  the  presentation  of  truth.  He 
never  shrank  from  danger,  or  failed  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  though  often  his  audience  was 
exasperated  to  bitterness  by  paid  agents  of  the  Brah- 
mans  or  the  Mohammedan  imaums.  On  account  of 
his  fearlessness  he  was  known  in  mission  circles  as 
the  "  Lion  of  the  Punjaub."  And  3"et  no  man  was 
more  affable  or  more  friendly  than  Dr.  Morrison, 
none  more  genial  in  personal  intercourse  or  more  de- 
voted to  his  work.  The  Christian  Church  will  re- 
member Dr.  Morrison  as  the  man  who  after  the  ereat 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  233 

Sepoy  rebellion  of  1857  moved  the  Lodiana  Mission 
to  call  upon  all  Christendom  to  observe  an  annual 
week  of  prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  (In 
1863  he  was  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly  at 
Peoria,  Ills.)  He  leaves  a  wife  and  several  children, 
of  whom  a  son  and  a  daughter  are  engaged  in  the  work 
of  the  Lodiana  Mission.  For  the  last  four  years 
most  of  his  time  has  been  spent  at  Dehra,  where  such 
light  labor  as  he  was  able  to  assume  was  still  carried 
on.  The  announcement  of  his  death  is  not  only 
sudden,  but  unexpected,  as  he  had  apparently  good 
prospects  of  continued  health,  though  advanced  in 
years,  until  he  was  struck  by  the  terrible  but  fatal 
cholera.  His  dying  words  were:  "It  is  perfect 
peace — I  know  whom  I  have  believed." 

(Dr.  Morrison  was  born  in  Orange  county,  N.  Y., 
Jime  29,  1806.)  —  Foreign  Missionary^  December, 
1881. 

Mrs.   Anna  M.   Morrison, 

The  wife  of  the  Rev.  John  H.  Morrison,  was  a  daugh- 
ter of  Dr.  E.  D.  Ward,  of  Bloomfield,  N.  J.  Soon 
after  arriving  at  Calcutta,  she  was  attacked  by  cholera, 
and  called  to  the  heavenly  rest,  April  27,  1838,  just  as 
she  was  entering  on  the  scene  of  earnestly  desired 
work  for  Christ  among  the  Hindus.  The  following 
accounts  of  the  last  illness  and  the  devoted  piety  of 
Mrs.  Morrison  are  taken  from  a  letter  written  at  the 
time  by  her  bereaved  husband : 

"The  perfect  calmness  and  composure  with  which 
she   faced  the  king    of   terrors   in  one  of   his  most 


234  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

frightful  forms,  would  have  led  an  observer  to  the  con- 
clusion that  stupefying  drugs,  or  the  hand  of  death, 
had  deprived  her  of  bodily  or  mental  feeling,  had  it 
not  been  for  the  violent  paroxysms  of  agony  she  suf- 
fered, and  the  clearness  and  intelligence  with  which 
she  spoke  to  those  around  her.  Her  greatest  solici- 
tude appeared  to  be  lest  she  should,  by  complaining, 
dishonor  him  who  had  died  for  her  salvation.  Once, 
when  a  most  violent  spasm  suddenly  seized  her,  and 
threw  her  into  almost  insupportable  agony,  she  did 
cry  out,  *  O  Lord,  relieve  me  from  this  dreadful  suf- 
fering;' but  immediately  checking  herself,  she  added, 
'  if  consistent  with  thy  holy  will.  Not  my  will  but 
thine  be  done. '  And  then  she  reproached  herself  at 
having  uttered  a  complaint,  saying,  '  Oh,  do  not  let 
me  complain  so.  He  has  never  called  me  to  suffer 
more  than  he  has  enabled  me  to  bear,  and  I  know  he 
will  support  me  now.'  From  the  first  she  said  she 
did  not  think  she  would  recover;  but  appeared  not  to 
suffer  even  the  slightest  agitation  in  the  near  prospect 
of  death.  On  the  contrary,  she  remarked  to  one 
standing  by  her  bedside,  '  The  fear  of  death  used  to 
trouble  me  so  as  to  make  me  doubt  whether  I  was  a 
child  of  God;  but  now  it  has  no  terrors;  there  is  not 
a  cloud;  all  is  bright  and  clear.'  When  it  became 
very  evident  that  she  could  not  last  much  longer,  and 
the  physician  gave  up  all  hopes,  I  asked  her  if  she 
was  ready  to  receive  the  message  to  go  home;  she 
calmly  replied,  *  Yes. '  I  then  told  her  the  opinion  of 
the  physician,  and  asked  her  how  she  felt  in  the  near 
prospect  of  death ;  she  simply  replied,  '  Happy. '  Soon 
after,  observing  that  she  was  fast  sinking,  I  asked 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  235 

her,  '  How  does  the  prospect  now  appear  ?'  She  said, 
'Glorious,'  and  spoke  no  more  until  she  joined  in  the 
song  of  the  redeemed  ones  around  the  heavenly 
throne — '  Unto  him  that  loved  us,  and  washed  us 
from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  and  his  Father;  to  him  be 
glory  and  dominion  forever  and  ever.'  " 

A  memoir  of  Mrs.  Morrison  was  prepared  by  the 
Rev.  E.  J.  Richards,  and  published  by  M.  W.  Dodd, 
New  York.—/.  C.  L. 


Mrs.  Isabella  Morrison. 

Mrs.  Morrison,  second  wife  of  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Mor- 
rison, died  February  14,  1843.  "  To  her  we  trust  the 
promise  was  fulfilled,  '  Blessed  are  the  dead  which 
die  in  the  Lord.'  " — Ammal  Report^  1844. 


Mrs.  Anna  Morrison. 

Mrs.  Morrison,  third  wife  of  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Mor- 
rison, died  December  29,  i860.  "Her  mind  was 
graciously  kept  in  peace,  and  she  departed  this  life  in 
the  hope  of  a  joyful  immortality." — Annual  Report, 
1861. 

Mrs.  John  H.  Morrison. 

Mrs.  Morrison,  widow  of  the  late  John  H.  Morri- 
son, D.D.,  died  at  Sabathu,  India,  September  4, 
1888.      "She   was  strong  and  earnest  in  spirit   and 


236  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

abundant  in  labors  for  the  truth." — Annual  Report^ 
1889. 

Mrs.  Susan  Dutcher  Morrison. 

Miss  Susan  Dutcher,  in  a  month  after  her  marriage 
to  Mr.  Morrison,  connected  with  the  Choctaw  Mis- 
sion, was  removed  by  deatli  in  January,  185 1.  For 
several  years  she  had  been  an  efficient  teacher  in  this 
mission.  She  was  greatly  beloved  by  the  scholars  in 
the  primary  department  of  the  school. — Annual  Re- 
port^ 1 85 1. 

Mrs.  W.  J.  P.  Morrison, 

The  death  of  Mrs.  W.  J.  P.  Morrison  was  the  afflic- 
tive event  of  the  year  1888.  She  died  of  cholera 
August  19,  at  Murree,  a  sanatorium  near  Rawal 
Pindi  (India).  Mr.  Morrison  and  his  family  were 
spending  a  year  at  Rawal  Pindi  for  reasons  of  health. 
Mrs.  Morrison  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  R.  Thackwell, 
of  Dehra,  and  was  born  in  India,  so  that  two  families 
and  especially  her  own  young  children,  mourn  over 
her  early  departure,  but  they  sorrow  not  as  those  who 
have  no  hope 

Mrs.  Morrison's  whole  life  had  in  one  way  or 
another  been  identified  with  the  work  of  missions. 
In  every  capacity  she  had  endeared  herself  to  the 
missionary  circle,  and  though  called  to  her  reward 
while  still  in  her  youth,  the  savor  of  a  godly  influence 
is  bequeathed  to  the  mission  circle  and  to  the  native 
church.  — A iiinial  Report^  1 889. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  237 

Rev.  Joseph  H.  Myers. 

The  Rev.  Joseph  H.  Myers,  of  Lodiana,  India,  has 
laid  down  his  Hfe  in  the  field  of  his  choice.  (He  died 
November  19,  1869.)  His  was  a  short  career — only- 
four  and  a  half  years  at  the  work,  but  they  were  years 
of  endeavor  in  teaching  youth,  guiding  inquirers,  pro- 
claiming the  gospel,  preparing  tracts  and  doing  other 
service  for  the  salvation  of  the  heathen,  and  for 
stirring  up  the  church  at  home.  He  wrote  many 
letters  to  Sabbath-schools,  and  was  anxious  to  bring 
the  young  into  working  sympathy  with  the  cause  of 
missions.  He  was  a  choice  Christian  and  a  noble 
missionary.  Too  soon  for  the  work,  but  not  for  him- 
self, has  he  fallen.  His  life  is  not  thrown  away.  It 
will  yet  bear  fruit,  and  India  will  gather  it,  and  the 
church  at  home  will  feel  its  power. — Foreign  Mis- 
sionary^ February,  1870. 

Rev.  Dr.  S.  H.  Kellogg,  an  intimate  friend  and 
classmate  of  Mr.  Myers,  writes,  from  India:  "His 
letters  were  always  fragrant  with  Christ,  full  of  love 
to  God  a.nd  man;  but  this  had  been  growing  much  of 
late — so  much  that  my  wife  had  remarked  that  the 
Lord  must  be  preparing  Mr.  Myers  for  some  very 

special  experience  of  sorrow  or  labor,  and  Dr.  

made  the  same  remark  to  me  two  weeks  ago.  In  a  late 
letter — one  of  the  last — Brother  Myers  wrote :  '  I 
cannot  sufficiently  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness 
to  me  in  spiritual  and  temporal  things.'  Again  he 
breaks  out:  '  O  for  more  spirituality!  O,  to  be  full  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.' 


238  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

"  But  our  own  loss  and  dear  Mrs.  Myers',  who  can 
measure  it  ?  She  is  a  woman  of  like  spirit,  and  I 
doubt  not  she  is  sustained,  but  it  is  a  very  heavy  loss ; 
a  very  heavy  loss  to  their  two  little  ones  that  they 
will  not  even  have  the  memory  of  such  a  father." — 
Record^  February,  1870. 

Mrs.  Myers  continued  at  her  post  six  years  after 
the  death  of  her  husband,  when  it  became  necessary 
to  return  with  her  two  sons  to  America.  She  died  at 
Wooster,  O.,  September  6,  1888,  shortly  after  the 
death  of  the  elder  of  these  sons. 


Mrs.  Mary  Latta  Nassau. 

It  is  with  great  regret  that  we  have  to  record  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Nassau,  wife  of  Rev.  R.  H.  Nassau, 
M.  D. ,  near  Benita,  Corisco  Mission,  on  the  loth  of  Sep- 
tember, 1870,  of  African  fever.  As  Miss  Mary  C.  Latta, 
she  went  to  Africa  as  a  teacher  in  i860,  arriving  at 
Corisco  in  November.  She  was  married  to  Dr. 
Nassau  in  1862.  Her  missionary  course  has  been 
one  of  singular  devotedness  and  usefulness.  A  more 
lovely  and  happy  Christian  woman  we  have  seldom 
known.  We  mourn  over  our  loss,  but  for  her  to  de- 
part and  be  with  Christ  is  surely  far  better.  Great 
sympathy  will  be  felt  for  her  bereaved  husband  and 
sister-in-law  and  for  her  two  children. — Record^  Ja-n- 
uary,  187 1. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  239 

Mrs.  Mary  Brewster  Nassau. 

Died,  at  Talaguga,  Africa,  August  6,  1884,  Mary 
Brewster,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Julius  Foster, 
and  wife  of  Rev.  R.  H.  Nassau,  M.D. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Nassau  has  filled  with  peculiar 
grief  the  hearts  of  many  friends  of  missions.  It 
seems  but  yesterday  that  she  sailed  for  Africa,  with 
the  well-considered  expectation  of  sharing  with  her 
newly-married  husband  the  hardships  and  privations 
of  a  pioneer  work  far  up  the  Ogovee.  Mary  Brewster 
Foster  had  consecrated  herself  to  the  mission  work, 
with  the  expectation  of  going,  as  a  single  lady,  to 
Persia;  but,  yielding  to  an  attachment  which  was 
subsequently  formed  for  Dr.  R.  H.  Nassau,  and, 
feeling  that  she  would  still  be  in  the  line  of  her  cher- 
ished object,  she  accepted  his  invitation  to  return 
with  him  to  his  field  of  peculiar  hardship  in  Central 
Africa,  where  they  arrived  in  December,  1881.  Be- 
fore sailing,  she  had  deeply  impressed  the  Christian 
women  of  her  own  presbytery  and  synod  with  the 
intelligence  and  depth  of  her  missionary  spirit. 

She  had  been  deeply  beloved  as  a  teacher  before 
her  consecration  to  the  mission  work,  and  she  left  no 
doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  that  in  whatever  field  her 
lot  should  be  cast,  she  would  prove  a  most  successful 
laborer  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  At  Talaguga,  in  a 
rude  abode  which  her  husband  built  mostly  with  his 
own  hands,  surrounded  by  savages  still  living  in  the 
wildness  of  nature,  and  for  whom  eveiy thing  re- 
mained to  be  done,  she  prosecuted  her  work  not  only 
with   cheerfulness,   but  with  real   joy.      Her  death, 


240  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

though  sudden,  had  not  been  wholly  unanticipated  as 
a  possible  event,  but  the  circumstances  of  it  were 
peculiarly  sad.  In  her  last  hours  no  physician  in 
regular  practice  attended  her,  and  no  white  woman 
was  at  hand  to  render  assistance  in  the  tender  assidui- 
ties which  were  needed  under  such  trying  circum- 
stances. Her  heart-broken  husband  was  compelled 
to  direct  everything,  even  the  preparation  of  the  cofifin 
and  the  grave. 

She  has  passed  to  her  reward  as  a  real  martyr  to 
the  cause  of  the  gospel  in  Africa.  Another  of  those 
significant  graves  which  now  surround  the  coast  of 
that  dark  land  has  been  made ;  another  outpost  of  the 
picket  line  has  been  consecrated.  Why  has  this  one 
woman  been  called  to  give  so  much,  even  her  life, 
while  many  hesitate  to  recognize  any  claim  of  the 
Master  for  the  heathen  that  are  perishing  ? — Foreign 
Missionary^  December,  1884. 

Rev.  John  L.  Nevius,  D.D. 

Dr.  Nevius  was  born  in  Ovid,  N.  Y.,  March  4, 
1829.  He  was  graduated  from  Union  College  and 
from  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  In  1853  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Helen  Coan,  also  of  Ovid,  N.  Y., 
and  with  her  he  sailed  in  the  same  year  from  Boston 
for  China,  as  a  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board. 
His  first  years  of  labor  were  spent  in  the  Central 
China  Mission  and  at  the  Ningpo  and  Hangchow  sta- 
tions. In  1 86 1  he  visited  Chef 00  on  a  tour  of  inspec- 
tion, and  he  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Shantung  Mission. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  24I 

My  acquaintance  with  John  L.  Nevius  began  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton.  He  had  already 
resolved  upon  the  missionary  work,  but  he  put  on  no 
airs  of  martyrdom  in  consequence  of  his  purpose. 
There  was  no  brighter  or  more  sunny  spirit  in  the 
halls  or  on  the  campus ;  there  was  no  more  consistent 
and  earnest  Christian  in  our  whole  circle.  He  was 
full  of  life  and  vigor,  physically,  socially,  intellectually 
and  spirituall}^  The  same  communicable  magnetism 
extended  over  everything  that  he  attempted,  whether 
in  athletics  and  the  hilarity  of  our  recreations,  in  the 
hard,  close  work  of  the  recitation  room,  or  in  the 
earnest  prayer  and  spiritual  quickening  of  the  re- 
ligious conference.  The  prophecy  of  a  devoted  and 
successful  missionary  life  was  clearly  stamped  upon 
his  joyous  and  breezy,  yet  thoroughly  consistent,  stu- 
dent-life in  the  seminary. 

When  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nevius  sailed  for  China,  ocean 
voyaging  was  no  holiday  affair.  They  went  on  board 
a  sailing  ship  at  Boston,  and  for  weary  months,  with 
poor  accommodations  and  poor  fare,  they  were  tossed 
upon  the  pathless  sea.  But  they  were  well  mated  in 
their  heroic  spirit  as  well  as  in  oneness  of  soul  and  of 
consecrated  purpose.  Both  had  decidedly  intellectual 
tastes  and  abilities;  both  made  valuable  contributions 
to  the  permanent  literature  of  missions,  and  yet  there' 
never  was  any  shrinking  from  the  plodding,  hard 
work  of  the  missionary  life. 

There  are  several  salient  points  of  interest  and  of 
high  example  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Nevius.  Among 
them  may  be  mentioned  his  thorough  and  abiding 
consecration  to  the  work  of  his  divine  Master.     I  knew 


242  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

him  in  his  youth,  and  had  also  frequent  and  pro- 
tracted interviews  during-  his  last  visit  at  home  in 
1891-1S92,  and  I  could  discover  no  abatement  in  the 
thoroughness  of  his  great  purpose  or  in  the  spiritual 
tone  of  his  life.  Another  element  which  he  exempli- 
fied in  high  degree  was  the  inanlhicss  which  all 
Christian  service,  and  especially  that  of  the  mis- 
sionary, demands.  He  was  a  prince  among  men.  Of 
only  medium  stature,  but  solid  and  substantial  in  ap- 
pearance, with  a  face  at  once  strong,  and  yet  full  of 
benevolence  and  of  joyousness,  he  inspired  respect 
with  all  classes.  He  left  no  criticism  on  the  lips  of 
officers  or  fellow-passengers  on  his  ocean  voyages, 
but  always  left  the  steamer  with  the  warm  friendship 
of  every  class,  even  the  sailors.  He  had  that  rare 
tact  which  captivated  everybody,  and  thus  he  always 
scored  a  victory  for  the  truth  and  the  cause  which  he 
represented.  Dr.  Nevius  possessed  that  generosity 
of  spirit  which  won  the  affection  of  all  fellow-mis- 
sionaries. This  was  shown  in  the  great  Missionary 
Conference  in  Shanghai  in  1890,  at  which,  out  of 
about  four  hundred,  representing  all  missions  in  the 
Chinese  empire,  he  was  chosen  as  one  of  two  coor- 
dinate presidents  to  conduct  the  sessions,  extending 
through  many  days.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Nevius  owned 
their  own  home  in  Chefoo,  where  their  doors  of  hos- 
pitality were  always  open,  and  the  fact  that  mission- 
aries of  many  societies  availed  themselves  of  that 
hospitality  was  an  index  of  the  warm  esteem  in  which 
their  host  and  hostess  were  held. 

Dr.  Nevius  presented  a  high  example  to  all  other 
missionaries  in  the  assiduity  and  success  w^ith  which 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  243 

he  conquered  the  native  language.  No  mere  smat- 
tering could  satisfy  his  purpose.  I  well  remember  a 
triumph  which  was  given  to  him  at  Chefoo,  in  the 
autumn  of  1874,  when  I  happened  to  be  on  a  visit  to 
the  Shantung  Mission.  An  English  court  was  in 
session  for  the  trial  of  an  Englishman  who  had  mur- 
,dered  a  Chinaman.  The  one-sided  and  unjust  man- 
agement of  similar  cases  by  the  English  courts,  always 
discriminating  against  the  native  in  the  favor  of 
their  own  race,  had  created  a  widespread  indignation 
among  natives  of  Chefoo  and  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, and  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  most  accurate 
interpretation  of  testimony  from  Chinese  sources. 
The  court  had  its  experts  and  the  Custom  Service 
also  proffered  its  best  interpreters.  But  at  last  these 
were  set  aside,  and  the  court  requested  Dr.  Nevius 
to  act.  He  gave  the  blunt  and  fearless  testimony  of 
some  of  the  large  and  stalwart  Chinese  peasants  with 
a  literalness  that  made  the  English  judges  wince.  It 
required  no  little  moral  courage,  in  the  presence  of 
the  stately  wigs  and  ermine  and  the  gathering  of  the 
proud-spirited  Englishmen,  to  give  literally  the  testi- 
mony which  showed  the  intense  Chinese  indignation 
towards  the  arrogance  and  injustice  of  an  alien  Brit- 
ish court;  but  this  was  done,  and  with  an  accuracy 
which  none  dared  to  question.  As  a  vindication  of 
the  thorough  scholarship  of  one  of  our  ablest  mis- 
sionaries the  whole  scene  was  one  of  triumph. 

Dr.  Nevius  always  manifested  a  deep  synipatJiy  for 
the  people  among  whom  he  labored.  No  man  ever 
won  the  hearts  of  the  natives  of  all  grades  more  fully 
than  he.     His  whole  life  was  a  rebuke  to  those  who 


244  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

never  quite  succeed  in  coming-  down  from  the  stilts 
of  a  higher  cultus  into  a  heartfelt  and  assuring  sym- 
pathy with  the  inferior  race  among  whom  they  labor. 
He  not  only  had  a  warm  place  in  the  hearts  of  all 
native  Christians,  but  he  also  had  the  respect  of  the 
heathen  wherever  he  was  known. 

A  dozen  years  ago  a  famine  swept  over  portions  of 
the  Shantung  Province,  carrying  off  two  or  three 
millions  of  people.  Generous  amounts  were  contrib- 
uted for  the  relief  of  the  thousands  of  sufferers,  by 
Christians  and  philanthropists  in  this  country,  also  by 
foreign  and  native  merchants  in  the  Chinese  ports. 
But  the  men  who  were  to  actually  venture  into  the 
desolated  districts  where  famine  and  pestilence  went 
hand  in  hand,  and  where  life  was  endangered  by  the 
uncontrollable  hunger  and  misery  of  the  starving,  were 
found  only  among  the  missionaries,  and  in  this  work 
Dr.  Nevius  had  a  large  part.  Taking  with  him  a  large 
amount  of  money,  in  Chinese  cash,  altogether  amount- 
ing to  one  or  two  wagon  loads,  he  rented  a  small 
house  in  the  very  midst  of  the  worst  suffering  and 
danger.  Protected  only  by  the  care  of  his  heavenly 
Father  and  the  respect  of  the  people, "he  spent  some 
weeks  in  such  moderate  and  yet  adequate  distribution 
as  preserved  some  thousands  of  people  from  perish- 
ing, until  a  new  crop  of  grain  could  be  gathered. 
His  work  was  thoroughly  S3^stematized,  and  such  was 
the  respect  accorded  him  that  no  act  of  violence  or  of 
theft  was  committed.  A  grand  object-lesson  setting 
forth  the  benevolence  of  the  Christian  faith  was  pre- 
sented to  the  people,  and  after  the  famine  was  over 
Dr.   Nevius  followed  up  the  good  impressions  with 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  245 

evangelistic  labors,  and  the  result  was  seen  in  some 
three  or  four  hundred,  converts  gathered  to  the  fold 
of  Christ. 

He  took  a  large  part  in  what  is  known  as  the 
itinerating  zvork  of  the  Shantung  Mission.  He  would 
have  had  better  reason  than  most  men  for  remaining 
at  home,  owing  to  the  delicacy  and  repeated  illnesses 
of  his  wife,  but  it  was  the  joint  wish  of  the  two  that 
his  work  should  not  be  restricted  on  that  account. 
Again  and  again,  with  a  large  wheelbarrow  of  his 
own  invention,  packed  and  balanced  with  his  needed 
supply  of  books  and  personal  comforts,  and  propelled 
by  a  mule  ahead  and  a  trusty  Chinaman  behind,  he 
traversed  wide  districts  of  the  Shantung  Province, 
visiting,  like  Paul,  the  churches  which  he  had  planted, 
comforting  the  saints,  and  inviting  all  men  to  the 
blessed  way  of  life.  All  over  the  Province  he  was 
known  and  loved. 

Dr.  Nevius  had  a  deep  sympathy  for  the  poverty 
of  the  people.  He  never  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that 
the  mission  work  is  a  spiritual  and  not  a  humanitarian 
enterprise,  and  yet  with  admirable  poise  of  judgment 
he  showed,  as  did  his  divine  Master,  an  interest  in 
the  wants  and  woes  of  the  people.  Many  portions 
of  Shantung  are  more  or  less  barren;  the  lines 
of  agriculture  are  exceedingly  restricted.  He  had 
learned  that  most  of  the  fruits  that  are  produced 
in  the  United  vStates,  but  of  which  there  were  com- 
paratively few  in  China,  might  be  successfully  raised 
in  the  Shantung  Province,  to  the  infinite  relief  of  the 
poor  people.  He  therefore  had  planted  in  his  own 
grounds   improved   fruit   trees,   from    which    scions 


246  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

could  be  taken  for  ingrafting-  the  poor  specimens  of 
pears  and  apples  known  in  Shantung.  He  also  sent 
out  through  the  surrounding  region  an  offer  to  supply 
these  scions  gratis  to  all  who  would  pledge  them- 
selves to  extend  the  same  privilege  to  others.  This, 
together  with  his  encouragement  in  the  planting  of 
seeds  for  the  production  of  thousands  of  trees,  has 
raised  up  a  promising  industry  in  Shantung. 

But  the  time  had  come  for  the  Master  to  call  this 
noble  and  devoted  missionary  to  his  rest.  He  had 
reached  the  age  of  sixty-four.  The  robust  health 
which  he  had  enjoyed  for  most  of  his  life  had  begun 
to  flag.  Even  before  his  return  last  year  from  his 
visit  to  America  he  showed  signs  of  failure.  Still  he 
kept  up  his  work.  On  the  19th  of  October  (1893), 
while  he  was  engaged  in  completing  his  arrange- 
ments for  attendance  on  the  mission  meeting  at  Wei 
Hien,  two  hundred  miles  distant,  he  suddenly  fell  to 
the  floor  and  expired,  without  a  struggle  and  appa- 
rently without  a  pang.  So  sudden  was  his  translation 
to  the  rest  above,  that  his  friends  who  quickly  gath- 
ered about  him  could  only  say  that  "He  was  not; 
for  God  took  him."  He  has  left  a  stricken  wife  to 
whom  he  was  all  that  a  husband  could  be,  and  he 
has  been  called  away  from  a  mission  of  which  he  had 
been  a  pioneer  and  a  counselor  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  The  Presbyterian  Board  and  the  whole 
church  to  which  he  belonged  have  met  an  irrep- 
arable loss. — F.  F.  Ellinwood,  D.D. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  247 

Rev.  John  Newton,  D.D. 

The  past  year  has  brought  a  great  loss,  not  only  to 
our  Lodiana  Mission,  but  to  all  Northern  India.  On 
the  2d  of  July,  1891,  Rev.  John  Newton,  D.D., 
our  senior  missionary  in  India,  after  fifty-six  years  of 
devoted  service,  entered  into  the  rest  of  heaven.  An 
old  man  at  the  time  of  his  death,  his  long  life  in- 
cluded, with  the  exception  of  one  year,  the  whole 
period  of  missionary  effort  by  our  Church.  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Reed  and  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie,  D.D.,  our  ven- 
erable Secretary,  were  his  only  predecessors  there. 

Dr.  Newton  went  to  India  in  1835,  arriving  at  Cal- 
cutta in  June  of  that  year,  accompanied  by  Rev. 
James  Wilson  and  his  wife.  Setting  out  from  Cal- 
cutta in  a  native  boat  on  the  Ganges  they  began  their 
long  journey  of  1200  miles  to  their  chosen  field. 
Three  months  later  they  arrived  at  Cawnpore,  where 
they  exchanged  their  boat  for  a  smaller  one  in  which 
they  sailed  as  far  as  Futtehgurh.  At  this  point  they 
left  the  river  and  proceeded  further  by  palanquin 
drawn  by  oxen.  At  last,  after  a  journey  of  five  and 
a  half  months  from  Calcutta — a  journey  now  accom- 
plished by  railroad  in  fifty-four  hours — they  reached 
their  destination,  Lodiana,  a  populous  town,  important 
as  a  centre  of  influence  for  the  Punjab.  This  densely 
peopled  region,  containing  over  twenty- two  millions 
of  Hindus  and  Mohammedans,  had  at  the  time  when 
Mr.  Newton  entered  on  his  work  there,  only  one  mis- 
sionary, Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie,  who  had  preceded 
Dr.  Newton  by  one  year.  Mr.  Lowrie  was  soon  ob- 
liged by  failing  health  to  leave  the  field,  and  thus 


248  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

almost  at  once  Dr.  Newton  had  thrown  upon  him  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  leadership  in  this  new 
and  important  mission.  These  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities during  fifty-six  years  of  faith  and  devoted 
service,  he  discharged  with  rare  wisdom  and  steady 
zeal. 

His  labors  were  most  various.  Always  foremost 
with  him  was  the  direct  preaching  of  the  word  and 
that  hand-to-hand  effort  by  conversation  with  in- 
dividuals which  he  felt  to  be  one  of  the  missionary's 
most  effective  methods.  He  was  a  powerful  and  at- 
tractive preacher,  both  in  English  and  in  the  ver- 
naculars. The  Scriptures  were  his  constant  and  ab- 
sorbing study.  Thoroughly  versed  in  them,  he  un- 
folded their  truths  with  great  patience  and  tact, 
melting  down  opposition  and  indifference  by  a  gentle, 
vital  warmth.  Certain  occasions  in  particular  are 
recalled  by  those  who  knew  him,  when  the  spiritual 
power  of  his  personality  was  especially  felt.  Rev. 
Mr.  Clark,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  speaks 
of  the  solemn  effect  produced  upon  his  mind  at  the 
Lahore  Conference  in  1865  by  the  reading  of  a  part 
of  the  first  chapter  of  Acts,  by  Dr.  Newton.  He 
says,  "  The  impression  made  by  his  merely  reading 
a  few  verses  has  not  been  effaced  by  almost  thirty 
years."  Dr.  Lucas  writes;  "One  night  in  the 
Lodiana  church,  when  called  on  to  close  the  service 
with  prayer,  he  poured  out  his  soul  in  a  prayer  I 
shall  never  forget,  a  prayer  that  seemed  more 
nearly  to  '  take  hold  of  God '  than  any  I  have  ever 
heard,  a  real  wrestling  of  soul  in  which  one  could 
feel  the  soul  travailing  in  pain,  a  prayer  which  told 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  249 

US  again  that  we  had  mdeed  in  our  midst  a  prince 
with  God." 

Dr.  Newton  took  with  him  when  he  first  went  to 
India  an  old-fashioned  wooden  printing  press,  which 
he  set  up  in  a  little  house  secured  for  the  purpose, 
and  thus  laid  the  foundation  for  that  publishing 
establishment  which  during  the  next  fifty  years  was 
destined  to  issue  about  tivo  hundred  and  sixty-seven 
million  pages  in  ten  different  languages.  In  this 
literary  work  Dr.  Newton  throughout  his  missionary 
career  was  eminent.  The  Punjabi  language  is  in- 
debted to  him  for  the  foundations  of  its  religious 
literature.  Besides  the  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment into  Punjabi  and  numerous  tracts  in  that  lan- 
guage, his  literary  labors,  with  those  of  his  associate, 
Rev.  L.  Janvier,  included  a  Punjabi  grammar  and 
dictionary,  a  commentary  on  Ephesians  in  Urdu  and 
important  tracts  in  both  Urdu  and  Hindi. 

But  notwithstanding  Dr.  Newton's  invaluable  ser- 
vices in  the  line  of  direct  missionary  work,  all  who 
knew  him  agreed  in  prizing  most  highly  his  lovely 
character  and  deep  piety.  His  sound  practical  judg- 
ment was  much  relied  on  by  all,  and  perhaps  none  of 
his  efforts  for  the  Punjab  have  borne  greater  fruit 
than  those  wise  counsels  so  gladly  sought  by  many 
younger  missionaries.  He  had  a  rare  catholicity, 
showing  a  sincere  and  loving  sympathy  with  all  forms 
of  Christian  work.  It  was  by  his  invitation  that  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  came  to  the  Punjab  in 
1850,  and  it  was  largely  due  to  his  influence  that  such 
warm  fraternal  relations  were  maintained  for  forty 
years  between  the  American  missionaries  and  those 


250  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

of  the  Church  of  England.  It  is  an  English  church- 
man who  says  of  him  that  he  was  "  one  of  the  holiest 
men  and  one  of  the  most  lovable  and  best  beloved 
men  that  the  Punjab  has  ever  seen."  His  prayers 
are  particularly  mentioned  by  this  Episcopal  brother 
also,  who  describes  them  as  marked  by  ''a  sim- 
plicity, a  tenderness,  a  loving  confidence,  a  reverence 
and  a  reality  felt  by  all  who  heard  them." 

From  the  Lodiana  Mission,  of  which  Dr.  Newton 
was  the  senior  missionary,  was  issued  in  1858  that 
call  to  the  observance  of  the  week  of  prayer  which 
has  since  become  so  widespread  and  so  fixed  a  custom 
throughout  the  Christian  world.  This  circumstance 
is  but  another  illustration  of  the  prayerfulness  charac- 
teristic of  Dr.  Newton,  of  its  influence  on  his  asso- 
ciates and  through  them  on  distant  lands  and  unnum- 
bered souls.  Dr.  Lucas  writes:  "In  answer  to 
prayer,  God  gave  him  back  all  his  children  to  labor 
with  him  in  India.  He  said  once  that  it  was  his 
mother's  prayers  that  brought  him  to  India. 
Blessed  mother  that !  How  little  she  thought  as  she 
knelt  day  after  day  and  gave  her  beloved  son  to  go 
far  from  her  home  and  preach  Christ,  that  she  was 
beginning  the  work  in  North  India  which  her  grand- 
children and  great-grandchildren  are  now  carrying 
on!" — ChurcJi  at  Home  and  Abroad^  April,  1892. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  Newton. 

Mrs.  Newton,  wife  of  Rev.  John  Newton,  of  the 
mission  in  India,  died  September  2,  1857.  The 
character,   example   and  influence  of   this  excellent 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  2$ I 

Christian  woman  for  a  period  of  twenty-three  years 
in  missionary  Hfe  were  all  of  the  happiest  kind,  and 
awaken  deep  regret  for  her  removal;  but  she  has 
entered  into  the  joy  of  the  Lord.  Her  last  end  was 
eminently  peaceful. — Ainmal  Report^  1858. 

Mrs.  Newton  was  the  mother  of  six  missionaries  in 
India,  four  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  one  grand-' 
daughter  was  also  a  missionary. 


Mrs.    Eliza  Newton. 

Mrs.  Newton,  the  second  wife  of  Dr.  John  Newton, 
to  whom  she  was  united  in  1866,  was  an  English 
lady,  and  on  the  death  of  her  husband,  the  state  of 
her  health  not  permitting  her  longer  residence  in 
India,  returned  to  her  friends  in  England,  where  she 
died  December  4,  1893,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  her 
age. — Annual  Report^  1892  and  1894. 


Rev.   John  Newton,  Jr.,   M.D. 

Tidings  have  been  received  from  North  India  of 
the  death  of  this  "beloved  physician,"  whose  dis- 
tinction it  is  that  he  gave  his  whole  life  and  soul  to 
the  physical  and  spiritual  healing  of  the  most  un- 
fortunate of  all  men,  the  "loathsome"  lepers.  He 
died  July  29,  1880,  at  Sabathu,  of  cancer  in  the 
stomach,  after  a  period  of  great  suffering.  He  was 
the  eldest  of  the  four  missionary  sons  of  Rev.  John 
Newton,  D.  D.,  and  brother  of  Mrs.  Forman,  who  died 


252  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

at  Lahore  about  a  year  ago.  He  leaves  a  wife  and 
children.  Dr.  Newton  was  an  earnest  preacher  as 
well  as  a  physician,  and  excelled  as  a  writer.  Though 
of  scholarly  turn,  he  was  much  engaged  in  itinera- 
tion, bazaar  preaching,  and  labor  among  the  soldiers 
of  the  local  garrison,  while  perhaps  his  most  re- 
sponsible charge  was  that  of  a  leper  asylum  having 
eighty-nine  inmates.  A  missionary  associate  says  of 
him,  "No  love  in  this  dark  world  has  ever  seemed 
to  me  so  much  like  the  Saviour's  as  that  of  Dr.  New- 
ton for  his  lepers. " 

A  correspondent  of  one  of  the  Indian  newspapers 
has  published  the  following  brief  tribute,  which  is  all 
the  more  valuable  as  coming  from  an  outside  observer 
of  this  mission  work : 

"  For  a  long  time,  I  do  not  know  how  long,  he  has 
been  suffering  and  struggling  with  a  disease  which 
he  supposed  to  be  consumption,  I  believe,  but  which 
very  recently  proved  to  be  cancer  in  the  stomach. 
When  he  wrote  his  last  letter  to  the  Pioneer  about 
the  Sabathu  Leper  Asylum,  he  was  on  his  way  to 
Kogthur,  beyond  Simla,  seeking  rest  and  change  of 
air.  About  a  week  before  his  death  he  returned  to 
Sabathu  dying,  and  suffering  indescribable  agonies, 
from  which  he  was  mercifully  released  in  less  time 
than  was  expected.  He  was  a  true  missionary,  obey- 
ing, in  the  letter  and  in  the  spirit,  the  original  com- 
mand given  to  the  first  missionaries,  not  only  to 
*  preach,  saying  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand,' 
but  to  'heal  the  sick,  cleanse  the  lepers,'  etc.  He 
did  heal  the  sick,  and  he  did  cleanse  the  lepers,  as  far 
as  medical  skill  and  sanitary  science  empowered  him. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  253 

He  preached  the  true  gospel  of  faith  and  works, 
which  the  '  poor  Indian  whose  untutored  mind  '  can- 
not always  take  in,  found  very  intelligible.  Like 
Chaucer's  Parson, 

"  'Cristes  lore,  and  his  Apostles  twelve, 

He  taught,  and  first  he  fohved  it  himselve.' 

The  funeral,  which  took  place  yesterday  evening, 
was  numerously  attended  by  Europeans  and  natives. 
Soldiers,  who  loved  and  respected  him,  carried  the 
coffin  from  the  house  to  the  grave  in  the  old  cemetery, 
where  his  mother  and  a  young  child  lie  side  by  side, 
and  where  there  was  happily  room  for  another  grave, 
though  the  cemetery  has  long  been  closed  for 
funerals.  The  Rev.  John  Newton,  D.D.,  the  aged 
father  of  the  deceased,  who  has  been  nearly  fifty  years 
a  missionary  in  India,  read  a  part  of  the  lesson  used  by 
the  Church  of  England,  and  added  some  words  of  his 
own  to  those  of  St.  Paul,  concluding  with  an  extem- 
pore address.  A  hymn  was  sung  by  the  soldiers 
present,  from  Moody  and  Sankey's  collection,  No. 
104,  *  Home  at  last,  thy  labor  done, '  the  words  and 
tune  of  which  are  extremely  sweet  and  touching." — 
Foreign  Missionary^  October,  1880. 


Mrs.  Cynthia  C.  Noyes. 

Mrs.  Noyes  was  born  at  Jackson,  O.,  December  12, 
1844,  was  educated  at  Hayesville  in  the  same  State, 
and  sailed  for  China  with  her  husband,  Rev.  H.  V. 
Noyes,   February  3,    1866.     She   was  attacked  with 


254  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

heinorrhaf:^e  of  the  lungs  July  4,  of  the  same  year, 
and  from  this  attack  she  never  rallied. 

On  Thursday,  August  8,  she  "  fell  asleep  in  Jesus." 
No  words  could  express  more  appropriately  her  quiet 
and  peaceful  departure.  The  Lord  was  very  gracious 
to  her  and  granted  her  abundantly  his  comforting 
and  sustaining  grace.  From  witnessing  his  great 
goodness  to  her  through  all  these  months  of  suffering 
and  from  my  own  experience  of  supporting  grace,  I 
shall  carry  with  me,  in  all  the  future,  a  deeper  im- 
pression than  I  ever  had  before  of  the  sustaining 
power  of  the  gospel  in  time  of  affliction,  and  of  its 
unspeakable  value  to  perishing  sinners. 

From  the  very  first  of  her  sickness,  death  in  itself 
had  never  seemed  to  her  as  a  thing  to  be  dreaded. 
She  thought  of  it  as  going  to  heaven,  and  this  ap- 
peared, as  she  often  expressed  it,  "  ver}^  sweet" 
rather  than  painful.  She  had  seen  a  much  loved 
sister  die  in  great  peace,  a  year  before  she  left  her 
home,  and  never  since  had  death  seemed  forbidding. 
She  felt  that  it  was  painful  to  part  with  her  friends, 
and  especially  the  companion  of  her  life ;  it  was  a  very 
keen  disappointment  not  to  be  permitted  to  teach 
''  the  heathen  children,"  which  for  many  years  had 
seemed  to  be  almost  the  one  desire  of  her  heart,  but 
when  God  appointed  that  she  should  part  with  those 
dear  to  her,  that  she  should  suffer  rather  than  do  his 
will,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection  I  never  heard  any- 
thing like  a  murmur  escape  her  lips,  nor  do  I  think 
there  was  such  a  feeling  in  her  heart ;  but  often,  oh. 
how  often  have  I  heard  her  say,  "  It  is  all  right !  Of 
course  it  is  all  right!" 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  255 

I  do  not  remember  that  she  was  ever  but  once 
greatly  troubled  with  reference  to  her  acceptance 
with  God.  It  was  last  January,  while  she  was  feeling 
quite  strong,  and  a  short  time  before  she  became  so 
much  worse.  One  Sabbath  I  had  noticed  all  day  that 
something  was  troubling  her,  and  just  at  night  she 
came  to  me,  and  with  intense  earnestness  said :  "  Oh, 
Henry,  do  you  suppose  it  can  be  that  I  am  not  a 
Christian  ?"  and  then  burst  into  tears.  This  depres- 
sion soon  passed  awa}^,  and  from  that  time  until  the 
day  of  her  death  she  seemed  to  have  a  sweet  assur- 
ance that  all  was  well,  and  this  arising  from  a  sim- 
ple, child-like  trust  in  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  She 
once  said  to  me:  "It  seems  so  clear  to  me — I  can 
feel  it,  that  nothing  can  wash  away  my  sins  but 
Jesus'  blood.  I  have  been  sick  a  long  time,  and  it 
ought  to  make  me  a  great  deal  better;  there  are  a 
great  many  things  that  ought  to  make  me  better,  but 
they  seem  to  do  no  good;  there  is  nothing  that  can 
wash  away  my  sins  but  Jesus'  blood." 

Toward  the  close  of  life  the  calm  assurance  of  ac- 
ceptance ripened  into  a  longing,  earnest  "desire  to 
depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ;  which  is  far  better." 
Two  days  before  she  died  I  asked  her  how  she  felt, 
and  she  replied:  "Yesterday  I  felt  a  little  gloomy, 
but  to-day  everything  seems  bright.  It  seems  as 
though  I  could  hardly  wait."  The  next  evening  she 
spoke  of  her  own  accord,  and  said  in  reference  to  her 
approaching  end:  ."If  it  was  not  wrong  to  be  im- 
patient, it  does  seem  as  though  I  could  hardly  wait. " 
She  had  only  to  wait  a  few  short  hours.  On  the 
morning  of  the  day  she  died,  at  worship  I  was  about 


256  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

to  lead  in  prayer  without  reading  the  Scriptures,  as  I 
thoug-ht  she  would  be  able  to  listen  to  only  a  very 
short  service,  when  she  spoke  and  said,  "Won't  you 
repeat  the  23d  psalm?"  I  did  so,  and  then  remarked 
— "The  4th  verse  I  have  often  heard  quoted,  'the 
dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,'  but  the  word 
dark  is  not  in  the  verse  in  the  Bible."  vShe  spoke 
very  quickly  and  earnestly,  and  said,  "  No,  it  isn't  a 
dark  valley;  it's  a  very  bright  valley."  Well  could 
she  say  so,  for  she  was  already  in  the  valley,  and  the 
light  from  beyond  the  river  was  already  shining 
brightly  upon  her  path. — Rev.  H.  V.  Noyes. 

Rev.  Gopeenath  Nundy. 

This  Hindu  minister  and  missionary  was  born  in 
Calcutta,  about  the  year  1807,  of  respectable  parents 
belonging  to  the  Kayath  caste.  At  an  early  age  he 
received  at  home  instruction  in  Bengalee,  his  ver- 
nacular language,  and  afterwards  he  learned  English. 

Exposed  at  this  time  to  influences  tending  to  skep- 
ticism as  to  the  truth  of  any  religion,  he  was  led 
to  believe  in  Christianity,  and  to  trust  in  Christ  as  his 
Saviour,  under  the  instruction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Duff, 
and  in  1832  he  was  admitted  by  him  into  the  visible 
church  of  Christ  by  the  rite  of  baptism.  In  the  year 
1833,  (jopeenath  accompanied  Archdeacon  Corrie, 
afterwards  bishop  of  Madras,  to  the  northwest,  and 
took  charge  of  an  English  school  at  Futtehpore. 

During  the  years  1837,  1838,  a  fearful  famine  pre- 
vailed in  the  northwest  provinces  of  India,  and  a  large 
number  of  orphans  were  collected  by  Dr.  Madden. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  2$/ 

Gopeenath  was  very  active  in  procuring  orphan  chil- 
dren, and  afterwards  diligent  in  training  them  for 
future  usefulness.  Dr.  Madden  transferred  a  num- 
ber of  these  orphan  children  to  the  care  of  the  Rev. 
Henry  R.  Wilson,  of  our  mission,  at  Futtehgurh,  and 
Gopeenath  accompanied  them,  and  was  employed  by 
the  mission  as  an  assistant.  His  services  at  this 
time  were  invaluable  to  the  mission,  not  only  in  con- 
sequence of  his  previous  employment  and  training, 
but  also  as  he  was  enabled  to  act  as  interpreter  to 
Mr.  Wilson  in  preaching  and  distributing  books 
among  the  natives. 

In  1844  he  was  ordained  to  the  holy  ministry.  He 
was  afterwards  stationed  in  the  cantonment  of  Futteh- 
gurh, where  he  opened  a  school  for  boys,  and  also 
established  a  flourishing  school  for  girls,  which  is  still 
in  existence.  The  superintendence  of  these  schools, 
with  almost  daily  preaching,  gave  him  constant  em- 
ployment, and  made  his  labors  very  useful. 

Futtehpore  having  become  vacant,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  that  station  in  1853,  where  he  remained 
until  his  death.  Gopeenath  never  was  so  happy, 
nor  developed  his  character  so  fully,  as  when  placed 
in  charge  of  this  station  at  Futtehpore.  He  was 
abundant  in  labors,  and  established  schools  for  boys 
and  girls  in  the  city  and  the  jail,  besides  giving  in- 
struction for  a  time  to  fifty  Patwarees,  or  village 
record  keepers.  In  June  of  1857,  his  labors  were  in- 
terrupted by  the  mutiny,  and  he  was  obliged  to  fly  to 
Allahabad.  What  he  suffered  during  the  mutiny  is 
known  to  the  religious  public.  In  that  trying  period, 
according  to  the  statement  which  he  has  published, 


258  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

he  evinced  a  spirit  not  unlike  that  which  animated 
the  martyrs  and  confessors  of  the  primitive  Christians. 

He  submitted  to  a  surgical  operation  forjiernia,  in 
March,  which  afforded  but  a  bare  possibility  of  relief. 
Prayer  was  proposed,  when  he  said — "I  am  not 
afraid  to  die;  I  can  trust  that  Jesus  whom  I  have  so 
often  preached  to  others."  The  operation  proved 
fatal,  and  Gopeenath  expired  early  on  the  morning 
of  the  14th  of  March,  1861.  His  friend,  the  native 
minister  in  Calcutta,  thus  speaks  of  his  character : 

''  In  his  person  Gopeenath  was  tall,  and  had  a  com- 
manding appearance,  and  his  complexion  inclined  to 
fair.  Though,  owing  to  circumstances,  his  English 
education,  when  judged  by  the  standard  of  the  present 
day,  was  somewhat  deficient,  he  had  fine  parts.  His 
acquaintance  with  the  Urdu  language,  in  which  he 
usually  preached,  though  not  critical,  was  intimate, 
and  amply  served  all  the  purposes  of  his  vocation. 
He  had  great  energy  and  decision  of  character.  As 
a  man,  he  was  pleasing  in  his  manners,  amiable  in 
disposition,  cheerful  in  society,  hospitable  and  benevo- 
lent. As  a  Christian,  he  was  sincerely  pious,  fervent 
in  spirit,  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  As  a 
missionary,  he  was  in  labors  most  abundant,  feeding 
his  flock  diligently,  preaching  in  season  and  out  of 
season,  full  of  zeal  for  promoting  the  honor  of  his 
divine  Master.  Failings  he  had — and  what  man  has 
not  his  peculiar  failings  ? — but  these  failings  leaned 
to  virtue's  side.  He  was  truly  one  of  the  excellent 
of  the  earth.  Let  our  countrymen  note  the  fact 
that  it  was  only  Christianity  that  made  Gopeenath 
what  he  was." 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  259 

To  this  let  me  add,  that  he  possessed  the  esteem 
and  respect  of  all  the  Europeans  at  Futtehpore. 
They  all  united  in  saying  that  he  was  a  good  nian^ 
and  abundant  in  labors  of  love.  They  attended  his 
funeral,  and  accompanied  his  corpse  to  the  burial 
ground.  A  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  the 
Rev.  J.  J.  Walsh,  from  the  text,  "He,  being  dead, 
yet  speaketh,"  and  remarks  by  the  Rev.  W.  F.  John- 
son were  made  at  the  grave. — Rev.  J.  J.  WalsJi. 


Mr.   John  F.   Odell. 

Mr.  Odell  was  a  native  of  New  York.  His  short 
but  interesting  religious  and  missionary  life  is  shown 
by  the  following  notices  of  him,  which  are  taken  from 
the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Board. 

In  the  Report  of  1864:  "A  valuable  assistant  has 
been  added  to  the  staff  of  laborers  at  Bangkok,  at  the 
request  of  the  missionaries — Mr.  John  F.  Odell.  He 
is  a  young  man  from  New  York,  who  went  to  Siam 
on  secular  business,  and  there  became  a  member  of 
the  church,  under  the  ministry  of  the  brethren. 
Good  hopes  are  entertained  of  his  being  a  useful  mis- 
sionary." 

In  1865:  "The  last  Annual  Report  mentioned  the 
appointment  of  Mr.  John  F.  Odell,  then  in  Siam,  as 
an  assistant  missionary.  His  health  was  delicate, 
and  eventually  it  vv^as  considered  best  for  him  to  re- 
turn to  this  country,  but  he  was  called  to  depart  this 
life  on  the  voyage,  on  the  26th  of  August.  He  was 
a  young  man  of  much  promise,  and  his  early  removal 


26o  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

is  deeply  regretted  by  his  brethren.  He  was  kept 
in  peace  to  the  last,  and  was  supported  by  a  good 
hope  of  eternal  life.  As  showing  his  disinterested- 
ness, it  should  be  stated  that  when  he  applied  for  an 
appointment  to  missionary  service,  it  was  arranged 
agreeably  to  his  request  that  no  expense  should  be 
incurred  by  the  mission  on  his  behalf  unless  his  health 
should  be  so  restored  as  to  enable  him  to  fulfill  all  the 
duties  of  the  desired  post  of  labor.  "^/.  C.  L. 


Rev.   Thomas  S.   Ogden. 

Mr.  Ogden  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  but  he  pur- 
sued his  collegiate  studies  at  the  University  of 
Michigan,  and  spent  the  usual  course  of  study 
at  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  In  1857,  with 
his  wife  he  went  to  Corisco  as  a  missionary.  He 
entered  at  once  on  active  service  in  the  instruction  of 
the  Benga  boys,  and  afterwards  he  engaged  zealously 
in  the  usual  routine  of  missionary  work,  and  soon 
showed  that  he  was  an  energetic  laborer — indeed  one 
who  would  become  marked  for  a  high  degree  of 
efficiency.  Repeated  attacks  of  sickness,  however, 
had  caused  apprehension  that  he  could  not  long  con- 
tinue in  these  labors,  and  at  one  time  the  mission 
had  given  their  approval  to  his  making  a  visit  to  his 
native  country  for  his  health.  He  did  not  embrace 
the  opportunity  of  returning,  and  when  another  attack 
of  fever  occurred  it  proved  fatal.  He  died  on  the 
12th  of  May,  1 86 1,  greatly  lamented  by  the  natives, 
as  well  as  by  his  brethren  and  the  church  at  home. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  261 

Dr.  Loomis,  one  of  his  colleagues,  wrote  of  his  last 
illness  as  follows : 

''  He  seemed  conscious  of  his  approaching  end  be- 
fore any  one  else.  He  said  his  mind  was  at  peace, 
but  he  thought  he  should  never  recover.  Just  be- 
fore his  death,  he  was  asked  if  he  found  comfort  in 
trusting  in  Christ  in  a  dying  hour  ?  He  seemed  sur- 
prised at  the  question,  then  replied  with  emphasis: 
'  Yes ;  in  whom  else  can  we  trust  but  in  Christ  alone  ? ' 

''From  his  first  arrival  in  Corisco,  he  omitted  no 
opportunity  for  preaching  to  pass  unimproved — in  the 
churches,  in  the  towns,  by  the  wayside,  often  at 
Ilobi,  he  urged  assemblies  and  individuals  to  repent- 
ance. At  his  death,  he  was  pastor  of  the  church 
and  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath-school  at  Evanga- 
simba. 

''To  rear  up  an  efficient  native  ministry,  and  to 
give  to  them  the  word  of  God  in  their  own  native  lan- 
guage, were  the  objects  which  called  forth  his  most 
earnest  efforts.  He  cheerfully  struggled  on  against 
a  hostile  climate,  happy  both  to  toil  and  to  suffer  in 
God's  work.  He  continued  these  labors  when  he 
should  have  been  confined  to  his  sick-bed.  He  fell, 
as  he  believed,  at  the  post  of  duty,  with  the  harness  on. 
His  dying  words  were,  '  Who  will  go  ?  Can  you  go  ? 
Who  will  go  to  preach  on  the  mainland  ?'  " — -/.  C.  L. 


Rev.   James  H.   Orbison. 

Rev.  James  H.  Orbison  and  his  family  arrived  from 
India,  March  24,  1869.  He  was  apparently  in  good 
health  and  expected  in  due  time  to  return  to  India, 


262  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

after  making  arrangements  for  the  education  of  his 
children.  On  the  19th  of  April  he  was  removed  by 
death  at  Bellefonte,  Pa.,  after  a  short  illness.  His 
mind  was  kept  in  great  peace,  and  we  cannot  doubt 
that  his  death  was  his  entrance  into  the  heavenly 
rest.  Mr.  Orbison  first  went  to  India  in  1850.  On  a 
visit  to  this  country  in  1858  he  was  again  married. 
He  leaves  a  wife  and  four  children,  for  whom  tender 
sympathy  will  be  felt  in  their  great  bereavement. 
The  removal  of  a  devoted  missionary  in  the  midst  of 
his  days  is  one  of  the  mysteries  of  Providence. — 
Record^  June,   1869. 

Mrs.   Agnes  Campbell  Orbison. 

'•'■  Mrs.  Orbison,  wife  of  Rev.  James  H.  Orbison, 
died  at  sea  on  the  20th  of  May,  1855,  in  the  twenty- 
sixth  year  of  her  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  Bay  of 
Bengal.  Her  tomb  is  the  deep — her  home  is  heaven. 
Her  example  and  works  remain  for  earth.  I  would 
like  much  to  visit  sympathizing  parents  and  friends 
at  home,  but  now  is  the  time  for  work,  and  I  hasten 
back  to  my  station."  Such  is  the  message  sent  by 
the  afflicted  husband  who  accompanied  the  deceased 
on  a  voyage  for  health  from  Calcutta  to  Penang. 
"During  the  voyage  she  suffered  much,  but  did  not 

complain;    she  never    did Her   spirit   rose 

superior  to  disease,  and  her  pale  countenance  beamed 
like  an  angel's. " — Record,  October,  1855. 

Mrs.  Orbison  was  the  daughter  of  a  Scotch  family 
(Kay),  and  was  married  in  India  in  September,  1853. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  263 

Rev.   Joseph  Owen,   D.  D. 

Rev.  Joseph  Owen,  D.D.,  of  Allahabad,  India, 
died  December  4,  1870,  at  Edinburgh,  Scotland. 

Dr.  Owen  sailed  from  this  country  August  5,  1840, 
for  India,  and  spent  nearly  the  whole  of  his  ministerial 
life  in  the  foreign  field,  and  most  of  his  time  at  his 
station  at  Allahabad  His  labors,  like  those  of  most 
evangelists  on  the  heathen  ground,  were  of  a  varied 
character — preaching,  teaching,  translating  and  re- 
vising former  translations  of  the  Scriptures,  and  pre- 
paring commentaries  on  different  books  of  the  Bible. 
Dr.  Owen  took  high  rank  as  a  scholar  and  was  an  in- 
defatigable worker  as  a  missionary.  (He  completed  for 
the  Bible  Society  a  second  revision  and  edition  of 
the  Old  Testament  in  Hindi,  also  for  the  American 
Tract  Society  a  commentary  on  Isaiah  in  the  Urdu 
language. ) 

Dr.  Owen  remained  in  India  for  more  than  twenty- 
eight  years,  when  feeling  the  need  of  some  respite 
from  toil  he  left  his  station  in  1869,  expecting  after 
spending  a  few  months  more  in  Scotland,  to  visit  this 
country  and  then  to  return  to  India.  Some  three 
months  before  his  death  he  was  attacked  with  dys- 
entery, from  which  he  never  recovered.  To  his 
friends  at  home  he  sent  this  message:  "Tell  them 
that  I  have  never  for  a  moment  regretted  that  I  went 
as  a  missionary.  I  only  regret  that  I  was  not  more 
faithful. "  And  to  the  native  Christians  at  Allahabad 
he  sent  his  dying  request,  urging  them  to  be  firm  in 
the  faith  always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord. 

Dr.  Owen  w^as  the  oldest  missionary  that  had  died 


264  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

in  the  service  of  the  board.  He  leaves  a  widow  and 
an  infant  child,  also  a  son  by  his  former  marriage. — 
Foreign  Missionary^  February,  187 1. 

Mrs.  Augusta  M.   Owen. 

Mrs.  Owen,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Owen,  of  the 
mission  in  India,  died  December  13,  1864.  She  was 
sustained  by  the  presence  and  grace  of  the  Saviour 
even  to  the  last,  ending  her  life  in  great  peace.  She 
enjoyed  the  respect  and  warm  regard  of  her  friends 
and  missionary  associates,  and  it  was  no  doubt  gain 
for  her  to  die. — Annnal  Report^  1865. 

Rev.   George  Paull. 

Mr.  Paull  died  at  Evangasimba,  Corisco,  May  14, 
1865.  He  was  taken  sick  with  African  fever  at  his 
station  at  Benita,  returned  to  Corisco  where  he  could 
have  medical  treatment,  and  died  after  three  weeks' 
illness.  Mr.  Paull  was  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Eliza 
L.  Paull,  born  at  Connellsville,  Pa.,  February  3, 
1837.  He  graduated  at  Jefferson  College  in  1858. 
In  the  spring  of  the  year  there  was  a  revival  in  the 
college,  and  he  was  one  of  the  subjects  of  it.  Several 
years  before  he  had  been  deeply  exercised  on  the 
subject  of  his  soul's  salvation;  but  it  was  not  until 
this  time  that  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  make  a  public  pro- 
fession of  his  faith  in  Christ,  and  in  April  he  united 
with  the  church  at  Connellsville.  In  1859  he  entered 
the  Western  Theological  Seminary,  Allegheny,  finish- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS,  265 

ing  his  course  in  the  seminary  in  1862,  He  then 
supplied  the  church  of  Tyrone,  near  his  father's,  for 
several  months;  but  his  convictions  of  duty  to  his 
divine  Master  led  him  to  consecrate  himself  to  the 
foreign  missionary  work.  He  accordingly  offered 
himself  to  this  service,  and  was  appointed  to  the 
Corisco  Mission.  In  the  meantime,  before  his  pre- 
parations were  made  to  go  to  Africa,  he  spent  six  or 
seven  months  preaching  to  the  church  in  Morrison, 
Ills.  There  his  ministry  was  greatly  blessed.  Even 
in  the  short  time  which  he  stayed  the  church  was 
much  increased  in  numbers  and  strength,  and  every 
inducement  was  made  by  the  congregation  to  retain 
him  as  their  pastor;  and  it  was  with  many  tears  on 
their  part,  and  much  feeling  on  his,  that  he  separated 
himself  from  them  to  enter  upon  the  laborious  and 
perilous  work  to  which  he  had  devoted  his  life. 

Mr.  Paull  was  ordained  an  evangelist  at  Connells- 
ville  by  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone,  in  September, 
1863.  In  November  he  left  his  father's  house  and 
soon  after  sailed  for  his  chosen  field  of  labor.  In 
consequence  of  the  war  then  raging  in  our  country, 
but  few  vessels  from  the  United  States  were  going 
out  to  Africa ;  he  was  therefore  under  the  necessity 
of  going  by  way  of  England.  He  was  detained  there 
for  some  time  waiting  for  a  vessel,  and  during  his 
short  stay  in  Glasgow,  he  preached  in  several  of  the 
churches  there  with  great  acceptance,  and  made 
many  friends  by  whom  his  memory  is  affectionately 
cherished. 

Mr.  Paull  reached  Corisco  early  in  May,  1864,  and 
almost   immediately   entered    upon    his   missionary 


266  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

work.  He  was  appointed  by  the  mission  to  take 
charge  of  the  station  at  Evangasimba,  the  work  of 
which  station  is  laborious  and  attended  with  much 
responsibility;  few  men  could  be  found  who  would 
have  conducted  its  work  with  more  discretion  and 
good  judgment.  He  was,  however,  assisted  in  the 
work  of  the  station  by  Mrs.  Mackey,  who  remained 
during  her  husband's  absence.  Immediately  after 
Mr.  Mackey's  return,  in  December,  he  expressed  a 
desire  to  go  to  the  mainland  to  enter  upon  the  work 
of  building  up  a  new  station.  He  had  made  several 
trips  to  the  mainland  outstations,  and  knew  well  the 
kind  of  work  that  would  devolve  upon  him  there. 
He  was  not  unapprised  of  the  danger  to  which  he 
would  be  exposed  in  undertaking  such  a  work  alone ; 
but  his  faith  was  strong  and  his  zeal  ardent,  and  he 
urged  upon  the  mission  to  give  him  an  appointment 
to  Benita,  a  point  on  the  continent  about  fifty  miles 
north  of  Corisco. 

He  went  to  this  new  station  in  January,  1865,  and 
entered  upon  his  work  with  the  assistance  of  several 
of  the  native  Christians  from  Corisco.  From  the 
very  commencement  his  work  there  was  attended 
with  the  deepest  interest.  Though  he  had  not 
gained  command  of  the  language,  so  as  to  preach 
without  an  interpreter,  multitudes  were  deeply  in- 
terested; numbers  asked  to  be  taught  how  to  pray  to 
the  true  God,  and  how  to  seek  the  way  of  eternal 
life ;  and  in  a  very  short  time  some  professed  to  have 
found  the  Saviour.  His  labors  of  preaching,  teach- 
ing and  instructing  inquirers,  together  with  the  super- 
intendence of  building  his  house,  multiplied  on  his 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  267 

hands,  and  proved  too  great  even  for  his  strong 
physical  powers.  He  was  taken  down  with  illness, 
and  God  saw  tit  to  remove  him  in  the  very  commence- 
ment of  his  labors,  when,  in  our  judgment,  only  the 
dawn  of  his  usefulness  in  Africa  was  opening  before 
him.  God  sees  not  as  man  sees;  we  bow  in  humble 
submission  to  his  will ;  clouds  and  darkness  are  round 
about  him,  but  justice  and  judgment  are  the  habita- 
tion of  his  throne. 

Mr.  Paull  was  a  man  who  sought  to  consecrate  all 

his  powers  to  the  service  of  his  divine  Master 

An  intimate  friend  and  classmate  of  his  in  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  writes  of  him :  "I  have  read  of  the 
heavenly-mindedness  of  Edwards  and  Payson  and 
Martyn  and  Brainerd,  and  of  the  singleness  of  their 
devotion  to  the  cause  of  God;  but  I  never  witnessed 
a  living  illustration  of  such  exalted  attainments  in  the 
divine  life,  until  it  was  my  privilege  to  be  the  hourly 
companion  and  friend  of  George  Paull."  One  of  his 
last  intelligent  utterances  on  his  death-bed  was,  ' '  Oh, 
for  more  consecration  to  the  cause  of  Christ !  I  wish 
only  to  cast  myself  at  his  feet,  and  feel  that  he  is  my 
all."  For  him  to  live  was  Christ,  and  he  could  say, 
in  the  words  of  the  apostle,  to  die  is  gain. 

In  his  social  character,  Mr.  Paull  was  amiable  and 
pleasant ;  he  made  friends  wherever  he  went ;  the  love 
of  Christ  was  so  shed  abroad  in  his  heart,  that  it 
affected  his  whole  character,  and  no  one  could  spend 
a  day  in  his  company' without  feeling  that  he  was  a 
consistent  and  holy  man.  His  attachment  to  his 
friends  was  most  ardent,  and  he  commended  the 
Gospel  by  his  unblamable  life,  and  his  cordial  and 


268  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

affectionate  manner  towards  all  with  whom  he  became 
acquainted. 

As  a  preacher,  he  was  clear,  instructive  and  con- 
vincing, at  times  eloquent  and  powerful.  Of  strong 
physical  powers,  a  vigorous  and  well-cultivated  mind, 
and  good  common  sense,  he  would  have  been  an  ac- 
ceptable and  instructive  preacher  in  the  most  culti- 
vated community;  but  with  all  his  powers  of  mind 
and  body  and  large  heart,  he  chose  to  devote  himself 
to  the  degraded  heathen  in  Africa.  God  accepted 
the  sacrifice,  blessed  his  labors  in  his  brief  work,  and 
called  him  to  his  reward. — Rev.  J.  L.  Mackcy. 

To  the  foregoing  obituary  may  be  fitly  added  the 
Minute  adopted  by  the  Presbytery  of  Redstone  con- 
cerning Mr.  Paull: 

"  Whereas.^  It  has  pleased  Almighty  God,  in  his 
inscrutable  providence,  to  remove  by  death  from  the 
Foreign  Mission  field,  a  young  brother  greatly  be- 
loved,, and  who  had  shown  himself  eminently  fitted, 
by  nature  and  grace,  for  the  great  work  to  which  God 
and  the  Church  had  called  him ;  and  whereas  he  was 
born  and  reared  among  us,  and  by  this  Presbytery 
set  apart  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary field ;  and  whereas  his  self-consuming,  untir- 
ing devotion  to  the  Master's  cause,  not  only  reflected 
great  honor  upon  the  Gospel  of  God,  but  also  on  this 
body,  by  whom  he  was  given  to  the  foreign  service 
of  the  Church;  therefore, 

'^Resolved,  I.  That  while,  as  a  Presbytery,  we 
record  with  gratitude  to  God  the  gift  of  one  to  the 
Church  specially  qualified  for  the  great  work  to  which 
he  had  consecrated  his  life,  we  would,  at  the  same 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  269 

time,  bow  with  profound  submission  to  the  very  mys- 
terious behest  which  summoned  him  so  soon  and  so 
suddenly  from  the  service  and  labors  of  the  Church 
militant  to  the  higher  and  holier  service  of  the  Church 
triumphant. 

''^  Resolved^  2.  That  in  the  life  and  labors  of  our  de- 
parted brother  we  recognize  a  spirit  akin  to  that  of  a 
Brainerd,  an  Eliot,  a  Schwartz,  akin  to  the  spirit  of 
him  who  said :  ^  The  zeal  of  thine  house  hath  eaten 
me  up  ' — a  zeal  for  the  salvation  of  bleeding  Africa, 
which  prematurely  and  almost  literally  consumed  the 
vessel  in  which  it  burned — a  love  for  the  souls  of 
men  and  the  glory  of  God  which  many  waters  could 
not  quench — which  quailed  at  no  sacrifice,  however 
great,  and  which  could  say  with  the  great  apostle 
missionary  to  the  Gentiles,  '  Neither  count  I  my  life 
dear  unto  myself  so  that  I  might  finish  my  course 
with  joy  and  the  ministry  which  I  have  received  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of 
God.' 

^^ Resolved^  3.  That  while  Presbytery  would  bewail 
the  loss  to  benighted  Africa  of  so  burning  and  shin- 
ing a  light  whose  inchoate  and  earliest  labors  on  the 
mainland  were  signalized  with  remarkable  and  im- 
mediate success  in  the  conversion  of  souls,  we  would 
also  record  our  unfeigned  condolence  and  sympathy 
with  the  bereaved  parents  and  other  friends  in  the 
early  demise  of  such  a  relative  and  son ;  divinely  as- 
sured that  however  great  thci?'  loss,  to  him  it  was  unut- 
terable gain." — ■/.  C.  L. 


270  necrological  record 

Mrs.   F.   B.    Perry. 

Mrs.  Perry,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Frank  B.  Perry,  died 
at  Monrovia,  Liberia,  in  January,  1889.  She  was  a 
woman  of  good  education  and  of  earnest  spirit  and 
was  devoted  to  the  spiritual  elevation  of  her  race. — 
Annual  Report^  1889. 

Rev.   Stanley  K.   Phraner.* 

Stanley  Ketchum  Phraner  was  born  May  26,  i860, 
at  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  where  his  father.  Rev.  Dr. 
Wilson  Phraner,  so  widely  known  throughout  our 
Church,  was  settled.  After  leaving  Williams  College 
he  spent  about  ten  years  in  the  West,  leading  an  out- 
door life,  and  acquiring  that  knowledge  of  men  and 
of  business  affairs  which  was  so  useful  to  him  in  after- 
years. 

In  1887  he  came  to  New  Rochelle,  connecting  him- 
self with  the  First  Presbyterian  Church.  Active  in 
its  Young  People's  Society  and  the  Sunday-school,  he 
found  a  field  of  special  usefulness  among  the  soldiers 
at  the  United  States  Recruiting  Depot  on  Davids' 
Island.  There  he  reorganized  a  mission  which  had 
been  discontinued  for  several  years.  He  established 
it  upon  a  permanent  basis,  and  his  devoted  efforts 
will  long  be  remembered  by  those  whom  he  bene- 
fited. His  bright,  cheery  Christian  faith  and  zeal 
won  him  many  friends. 

Led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  give  himself  to  the 

*iV.  Y.  EvaiiiTclist.     hiserted  while  these  Memoirs  were  pass- 
ing through  the  Press. 


OF  THE    BOARD   OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  2/ 1 

Gospel  ministry,  lie  entered  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1890.  While 
there  he  consecrated  himself  to  the  work  of  Foreign 
Missions.  Having  been  assigned  by  the  Board  to  the 
Laos  field,  he  was,  on  July  24  of  the  same  year,  1890, 
ordained  at  New  Rochelle  by  the  Presbytery  of 
Westchester.  At  the  close  of  the  service  the  Young 
People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor,  of  which  he 
was  still  a  member,  tendered  a  public  reception  to 
him  and  his  bride,  for  he  had  recently  been  married 
to  Miss  Elizabeth  Pennell,  of  Omaha,  Neb. 

After  a  long  and  trying  journey  he  reached  his 
field  at  Cheung  Mai,  where  he  was  soon  called  to 
mourn  the  loss  of  his  wife.  Prostrated  with  grief 
and  with  greatly  impaired  health  he  yet  gave  himself 
with  unstinted  zeal  to  the  work  of  the  mission.  He 
soon  acquired  the  native  language,  and  found  great 
pleasure  and  abundant  success  in  work  among  the 
native  churches,  and  in  itinerating  tours  around  the 
country.  He  developed  great  aptitude  for  the  varied 
work  of  a  missionary,  and  seemed  particularly  adapted 
for  work  in  his  chosen  field.  After  a  brave  fight 
against  disease  for  the  past  year,  he  was,  by  order  of 
the  physicians  of  the  mission,  reluctantly  constrained 
to  turn  his  face  homeward  for  rest  and  medical  treat- 
ment. In  the  meantime  he  married  Miss  Eliza  P. 
Westervelt,  who  went  from  this  country  to  Laos  as  a 
missionary  in  1884.  A  despatch  from  her,  dated  at 
Singapore,  announces  the  death  of  Mr.  Phraner 
January  15,  1895.  His  journey  has  ended  unex- 
pectedly, and  he  has  been  received  into  the  rest 
which  remaineth  for  the  people  of  God.      His  wife 


272  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

and  two  children  have  the  tenderest  sympathy  of  all 
their  friends,  and  his  death  will  be  deeply  mourned 
by  many,  both  here  and  in  his  chosen  field.  His 
brief  but  devoted  life  as  a  missionary  is  a  rich  legacy 
to  the  Church  at  large,  and  should  inspire  some  of 
her  sons  to  take  up  the  work  he  has  been  compelled 
to  lay  down. — Rev.  W.  B.  Waller. 


Mrs.  Elizabeth  Pennell  Phraner. 

Rev.  and  Mrs.  Stanley  K.  Phraner  arrived  at 
Cheung  Mai,  Laos,  in  December,  1890,  but  we  are 
compelled  in  sorrow  to  write  that  Mrs.  Phraner, 
whose  health  was  much  impaired  during  the  long 
journey  from  America  to  Laos,  grew  still  more  feeble 
after  reaching  her  field,  and  on  February  12,  1891, 
she  passed  from  earth  to  heaven.  The  deepest  sym- 
pathy is  felt  by  his  missionary  brethren  and  by  all 
the  members  of  the  Board  for  Mr.  Phraner,  thus  be- 
reaved at  the  very  threshold  of  his  missionary  life. — 
Annual  Report^  1891. 

Rev.   Edgar  McDill  Pinkerton. 

Rev.  E.  M.  Pinkerton  and  wife  arrived  in  Bahia, 
Brazil,  in  1891,  and  on  February  23,  1892,  he  died  a 
victim  to  yellow  fever  after  three  days'  illness.  Mr. 
Pinkerton  leaves  a  young  wife  who  had  shared  his 
labors  for  about  eight  months,  and  who  was  herself 
suffering  from  malarial  fever  at  the  time  of  her  hus- 
band's death.     But  to  her,  God  seems  to  fulfill  his 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  2/3 

promise  of  needed  grace,   overwhelming   as   is   her 
loss. 

Mr.  Pinkerton  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Wooster  in  1888,  and  of  Lane  Seminary  in  189 1.  Of 
his  qualifications  for  his  chosen  work  the  officers  of 
those  institutions  bore  ample  testimony.  He  sailed 
in  July,  1 89 1,  for  Brazil,  the  field  which  he  had 
asked  of  the  Board  might  be  his  sphere  of  labor,  and 
to  which  he  felt  called  of  God.  There  is  much  com- 
fort in  the  thought  that  he  was  in  just  the  w^ork  and 
in  just  the  place  which  he  had  desired  to  be.  He  was 
happy  in  his  work,  but  God  has  seen  fit  to  take  him. 
Let  us  pray  that  even  his  death  may  be  instrumental 
in  advancing  the  cause  which  was  so  dear  to  his 
heart.  —  The  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^  May,  1892. 

Rev.   Joseph  Porter. 

Mr.  Porter  was  bom  in  Derby  Plains,  in  the  State 
of  Ohio,  January  5,  1808.  In  his  sixteenth  year,  while 
living  with  his  eldest  brother,  as  he  humbly  trusted, 
his  conversion  to  God  took  place.  Three  years  after- 
wards he  became  a  communicant  in  the  church,  and 
entered  on  studies  with  a  view  to  the  ministry.  He 
also  engaged  actively  in  efforts  to  do  good,  establish- 
ing a  Sabbath-school;  and  before  he  graduated  at 
Oxford,  he  had  been  led  to  form  the  purpose  of 
being  a  missionary.  With  his  wife  he  embarked 
for  India  in  1835,  and  reached  Lodiana,  December, 
1836. 

In  October,  1837,  he  was  ordained  to  the  gospel 
ministry,   by  the  Lodiana  Presbytery.      In   1842  his 


274  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

wife  was  taken  to  her  rest.  With  the  exception  of 
the  two  years  he  was  absent  on  a  visit  to  his  native 
land  in  1848  and  1849,  Lodiana  was  the  scene  of  his 
labors  from  the  time  of  his  arrival.  While  at  home  Mr. 
Porter  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Mary  Parvin, 
daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Theophilus  Parvin.  She 
survived  him,  and  after  some  years  became  the  wife 
of  the  Rev.  Levi  Janvier,  D.D. 

For  several  years  before  his  death,  Mr.  Porter  had 
charge  of  the  Lodiana  Mission  press,  and  was  inde- 
fatigable in  his  labors  to  make  it  efficient.  He  also 
had  charge  of  all  the  mission  buildings,  and  seemed 
to  take  pleasure  in  relieving  his  brethren  of  the 
secular  affairs  of  the  station.  This  he  did  the  more 
cheerfully,  as  for  several  years  an  affection  of  the 
throat,  which  finally  undermined  his  constitution, 
prevented  him  from  doing  much  in  the  way  of  direct 
preaching.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Hin- 
dustani and  Punjabi  languages,  and,  when  his  health 
permitted,  was  an  acceptable  and  affectionate 
preacher  in  these  dialects.  Plis  last  work  on  earth 
was  correcting  the  final  proof  sheets  of  a  Punjabi 
dictionary,  on  which  he  and  two  of  his  brethren  had 
long  labored.  This  labor  he  continued  until  the  day 
before  his  death,  or  until  his  hand  refused  to  perform 
what  his  heart  desired. 

In  his  intercourse  with  the  natives,  whether  Chris- 
tian or  heathen,  our  departed  brother  was  ever  kind 
and  considerate;  but  no  one  felt  more  deeply  when 
his  kindness  was  repaid  with  ingratitude.  He  was 
ever  ready  to  give  advice  and  aid  to  those  who  re- 
quested his  assistance.      He  was  highly  esteemed  by 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  275 

his  brethren,  and  all  who  knew  him,  for  his  kindness 
of  heart  and  work's  sake.  His  mind  was  more  ac- 
curate and  practical  than  brilliant  or  imaginative. 
In  speaking-  or  writing,  his  sole  aim  was  to  make  a 
tnie  impression,  and  his  sincerity  seldom  failed  to 
carry  conviction  to  his  audience  and  readers.  His 
memory  was  remarkably  retentive  as  to  facts  and 
dates.  His  judgment  was  sound,  and  his  opinions 
on  all  subjects  within  the  range  of  his  information 
were  ever  valuable.  He  did  not  exercise  himself  in 
things  too  high  for  him.  Like  Paul,  he  determined 
to  know  nothing  save  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  crucified. 
On  this  his  heart  was  fixed.  One  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous traits  in  his  character  was  perseverance.  By 
this  he  accomplished  much  in  his  missionary  career. 
On  the  day  previous  to  his  death,  he  had  the  orphan 
girls  called  in,  and  as  they  gathered  around  his  couch, 
he  spoke  to  them  of  the  importance  of  listening  to  the 
preached  word,  remembering  that  it  was  from  God, 
and  was  able  to  make  them  wise  unto  salvation.  With 
deep  feeling,  he  urged  upon  them  the  importance  of 
preparation  for  death,  so  that  when  they  should  be 
in  his  situation  they  would  not  fear.  They  wept  with 
him;  but  whether  any  lasting  impression  was  made 
the  future  must  show.  The  morning  of  his  death  his 
mind  wandered  much ;  still,  on  being  asked  if  Jesus 
was  precious,  he  replied,  in  Hindustani,  ''There  is 
none  beside,"  and  in  his  wandering  he  seemed  to 
mistake  the  door  where  the  bright  morning  light  was 
shining,  for  the  entrance  into  heaven.  But  soon  the 
last  tones  of  his  voice  died  away  on  our  ears,  and  he 
sank  like  a  weary  child  to  rest.     Jesus,  no  doubt,  was 


276  NFXROLOGICAL   RECORD 

with  him,  and  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
was  lightened  by  his  smiles.  The  river  of  death 
seemed  very  narrow,  for  there  was  scarce  a  sigh  or  a 
groan  to  tell  when  it  was  passed. 

He  died  on  the  morning  of  the  21st  of  November, 
1853,  in  the  forty-sixth  year  of  his  age.  Had  he  been 
permitted  to  choose  the  place,  and  time,  and  circum- 
stances of  his  death,  he  would,  in  all  probability, 
have  chosen  them  just  as  they  occurred.  He  breathed 
his  last  in  Lodiana,  at  the  time  of  the  annual  meeting 
of  the  mission,  and  in  the  presence  of  eight  of  his 
missionary  brethren.  At  their  next  session,  the  fol- 
lowing minute  was  adopted : 

"  Whereas^  Since  our  last  session  it  has  pleased  the 
Lord  to  remove  our  dear  brother  and  fellow-mis- 
sionary, the  Rev.  Joseph  Porter,  from  the  labors  of 
earth  to  the  fruition  of  heaven, 

^^  Resolved,  That  this  meeting,  humbly  acquiescing 
in  the  afflictive  providence,  and  deeply  sympathizing 
with  the  widow  and  children  of  our  deceased  brother 
cordially  record  on  our  minutes  our  high  sense  of  his 
sterling  qualities  as  a  man,  a  husband  and  father,  of 
his  humble  evangelical  piety,  and  of  his  faithfulness 
as  a  missionary  of  the  cross,  who,  after  seventeen 
years  of  devoted  labor  at  this  station,  has  died  at  his 
post  respected  and  lamented  by  all  who  knew  him. " — 
Rev.  J,  M.  Jamie  son  ^  D.D. 

Mrs.    Harriet  J.   Porter, 

The  wife  of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Porter,  died  at  Lodiana, 
India,  March  10,  1842.      She  was  a  native  of  Indiana, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  277 

it  is  believed,  and  she  arrived  in  India  with  her  hus- 
band in  1836.  The  Rev.  John  Newton,  in  sending 
an  account  of  her  death  to  the  Mission  House,  said: 
*'  Sorrow  has  filled  our  hearts.  "We  have  this  day 
committed  to  the  tomb  the  mortal  remains  of  a  be- 
loved missionary  sister.  Mrs.  Porter  has  finished 
her  earthly  course,  and  is  now,  we  feel  assured, 
where  pain  is  not  experienced,  and  sympathy  is  not 
needed.  The  redemption  for  which  she  long  prayed, 
and  which  she  continued  to  expect,  through  the 
precious  blood  of  Christ,  is  now  completed ;  save  only 
that  her  body,  which  was  sown  in  corruption,  is  yet 
to  be  raised  in  incorruption  and  glory.  But  notwith- 
standing this  comforting  reflection,  we  cannot  but 
mourn  that  we  have  been  deprived  of  the  society  of 
one  to  whom  we  all  felt  much  attached,  and  who, 
if  her  life  had  been  spared,  might,  at  least,  have  ex- 
emplified the  excellency  of  Christianity,  by  patient 
suffering." — -/.  C.  L. 

Rev.   Charles  F.   Preston. 

A  great  and,  humanly  speaking,  an  irreparable 
loss  has  fallen  upon  our  mission  in  Canton.  Charles 
F.  Preston,  who  died  July  17,  1S77,  had  preached  the 
gospel  to  the  Chinese  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
and  was  justly  regarded  as  the  most  fluent  of  all 
foreigners  in  the  use  of  the  difficult  Chinese  language. 
With  the  exception  of  the  time  occupied  in  one  visit 
to  this  country,  he  has  held  a  daily  service  for  many 
years,  in  which  he  generally  addressed  from  four 
hundred  to  eight  hundred  people.     Though  an  un- 


278  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

impassioned  speaker  in  his  native  tongue,  he  was 
always  enkindled  to  an  unusual  degree  when  address- 
ing his  Chinese  audiences,  and  succeeded  beyond 
most  preachers  in  w^inning  attention.  His  chapel  in 
Treasury  Street  was  like  an  eddy  in  a  great  perennial 
stream.  It  drew  from  the  thousands  of  passers-by 
many  each  day  who  had  never  before  heard  of  Cal- 
vary. Coming,  it  may  be,  from  distant  interior  prov- 
inces, they  saw  this  earnest  foreigner,  and  before  him 
an  attentive  body  of  listeners,  and  turned  aside  to  see 
and  hear.  It  was  not  the  usual  theatrical  performance 
of  the  temples,  as  they  soon  learned,  nor  any  specu- 
lation of  a  zealous  vender  of  earthly  wares;  but, 
strangely  enough  to  them,  it  was  the  message  of  a 
disinterested  man,  who  had  crossed  the  ocean  to  tell 
them  of  God's  great  love  to  men,  of  a  Redeemer 
dying  upon  the  cross  for  their  salvation.  Many,  filled 
with  wonder,  came  again  and  again.  Some  found 
the  way  of  life  speedily,  but  many  more  went  away 
pondering  the  word  in  their  hearts.  Such  is  the 
blessed  seed- sowing  which  Mr.  Preston  has  left  in  the 
hands  of  the  Lord,  Vv^hose  word,  like  the  rain  and  the 
snow,  never  returns  unto  him  void,  but  which  sooner 
or  later  shall  accomplish  that  which  he  pleases  and 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  he  sent  it.  His  death, 
though  not  without  forewarning,  took  all  by  surprise. 
He  had  felt  anxious  for  many  months  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  California  field,  principally  for  the  edu- 
cation of  his  children.  This  had  not  been  acceded  to 
by  the  Board  for  various  reasons.  More  recently  ill- 
health  had  increased  his  desire,  and  as  soon  as  there 
seemed  to  be  a  prospect  of  danger  on  that  account  he 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  279 

was  advised  by  a  letter  from  the  office  at  New  York 
to  return  home  whenever  health  should  demand  it, 
irrespective  of  the  question  of  a  transfer  to  California. 
But  the  case  was  too  urgent  for  correspondence;  he 
should  have  left,  merely  by  consent  of  the  mission, 
as  soon  as  serious  danger  threatened.  This  is  accord- 
ing to  the  usage  of  the  Board;  but  Mr.  Preston,  in 
his  great  faithfulness,  resolved,  like  the  lam.ented 
Reuben  Lowrie  and  Henry  V.  Rankin,  not  to  take 
any  step  which  might  seem  like  a  desertion  of  his 
post;  and,  like  them,  he  may  be  said  to  have  sacri- 
ficed his  Hfe  to  his  high  conscientious  principle.  No 
one  in  Canton  understood  the  great  risk  which  he  was 
incurring,  and  he  himself,  though  depressed  and  ap- 
prehensive, failed  to  realize  that  there  was  immediate 
danger.  A  letter  reporting  a  recommendation  of  the 
mission  for  leave  of  absence  was  written  by  his  own 
hand,  with  the  expectation  that  a  response  from  the 
Board  two  months  later  might  be  in  time.  But  even 
before  his  letter  was  posted,  the  end  came;  and  the 
very  same  mail  brought  the  recommendation  and  the 
tidings  of  death. 

He  had  set  out  for  Swatow  for  a  change  of  air,  but 
on  reaching  Hong-Kong  he  was  too  weak  to  proceed 
and  sank  rapidly  toward  his  unexpected  rest.  Thus 
suddenly  did  the  summons  of  the  Master  come,  and 
doubtless  with  plaudits  of  "Well  done,  good  and  faith- 
ful servant!"  The  loss  to  the  mission  is  sorely  felt. 
Many  foreign  residents  of  Canton,  in  various  spheres, 
share  in  the  common  sorrow.  The  natives  who  have 
known  him,  whether  as  a  missionary  or  merely  as  a 
citizen  and  neighbor,  also  feel  the  loss  of  a  good  man. 


28o  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

It  was  mj^  privilege  to  know  Mr.  Preston  well  as  a 
contemporary  in  Princeton  Theological  Seminar}^, 
where  the  cheering  ring  of  his  cordial  words  and 
hearty  laughter  seem  to  echo  even  now  whenever  I 
revisit  those  sacred  halls.  There  was  a  high  degree 
of  missionary  interest  in  the  seminary  at  that  time 
(1S53-4),  and  among  those  of  Mr.  Preston's  con- 
temporaries who  went  to  the  foreign  field  were  Rev. 
John  L.  Nevius,  D.  D.,  now  of  Chefoo;  Rev.  Messrs. 
Clemens  and  Williams,  who  went  to  West  Africa; 
Rev.  Robert  McMullen,  the  martyr  of  Cawnpore; 
the  gifted  Rev.  Isador  Lowenthal,  who  was  shot  at 
Peshawur,  near  the  Afghan  border,  and  Rev.  A.  B. 
Morse,  who  went  to  Siam,  but  was  soon  compelled 
to  return  on  account  of  ill-health.  Of  all  these  only 
Dr.  Nevius  and  Mr.  Morse  now  survive. 

A  marked  characteristic  of  Mr.  Preston  at  that 
time  was  his  constant  cheerfulness.  He  regarded 
his  consecration  to  the  mission  work  as  no  dreary 
sacrifice.  None  were  called  upon  to  waste  their  pity 
upon  him  on  account  of  his  high  resolve.  He  had 
''never  thought  of  anything  else,"  he  constantly 
averred.  He  could  not  remember  the  time  when 
he  was  not  a  Christian,  or  when  he  was  not  a  mis- 
sionary. This  was  always  the  simple  history  of  his 
consecration.  He  had  been  given  to  the  Lord  by  his 
parents  from  his  birth,  and  God's  covenant  had  in 
his  case  been  verified  from  the  first.  The  outlook 
was  bright  and  cheering  to  his  mind ;  for  the  great 
errand  of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the  dark-minded 
heathen  was,  in  his  view,  the  very  highest  object  of 
human  aspiration. 


OF   THE   BOAKD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  28 1 

On  visiting  him  in  Canton  three  years  ago,  I  found 
him  bright  and  cheery  as  ever.  Surrounded  by  his 
family,  he  seemed  the  happiest  of  husbands  and 
fathers,  and  he  made  others  happy  about  him. 
Every  morning  at  ten  or  eleven  o'clock  he  was  sure 
to  be  found  at  his  chapel,  and  every  afternoon  he  met 
liis  Chinese  teacher,  endeavoring  to  the  last  to  perfect 
himself  in  the  language,  that  he  might  more  and 
more  effectively  proclaim  the  gospel  to  the  perishing. 

He  had  a  large  acquaintance  among  the  foreigners 
in  Canton,  and  was  even  exceptionally  popular 
among  those  of  every  nation.  His  cheerful  home 
was  a  favorite  resort  in  the  evenings  for  some  of  the 
young  men  connected  with  the  mercantile  establish- 
ments or  with  the  United  States  Consulate. 

Mr.  Preston  is  very  widely  lamented  by  Americans 
and  others  up  and  down  the  China  coast,  and  by 
many  in  this  country.  The  whole  church  and  the 
thousands  of  the  heathen  to  whom  he  preached  have 
suffered  a  heavy  loss. 

A  secular  paper  in  Canton  says  of  the  deceased : 

''We  regret  to  have  to  record  the  death  here  of  the 
Rev.  C.  F.  Preston,  of  Canton,  who  may  be  said  to 
have  died  with  his  harness  on,  after  hard  service  in 
the  missionar}^  field  extending  over  about  twenty 
years.  Mr.  Preston  was  a  member  of  the  American 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Missions,  and  his  labors  have 
been  principally  confined  to  the  city  of  Canton, 
where  he  has  preached  daily  for  very  many  years. 
He  was  admittedly  one  of  the  best  Chinese  speakers 
in  the  south  of  China,  and  was  well  known  as  a  most 
conscientious  and    hard-working    missionary.     As  a 


282  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

manly,  genial  and  open-hearted  Christian  gentleman, 
he  was  respected  and  loved  by  all  who  knew  him, 
and  his  loss  will  be  greatly  felt  by  a  large  circle  of 
friends,  not  only  in  Canton,  but  in  other  ports  in 
China." 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  just  received  from 
the  Hon.  S.  Wells  Williams.  No  man  knew  Mr. 
Preston  more  thoroughly  than  he : 

"  New  Haven,  September  ii,  1877. 

* '  My  Dear : — How  sad  the  breach  made  in  the 

mission  at  Canton  by  the  death  of  dear  Preston! 
How  large  the  vacancy  made  in  their  ranks  by  his 
departure  you  can  understand  and  lament  better  than 
I  can ;  but  I  can  and  do  mourn  the  loss  of  one  of  the 
best  workers  ever  sent  out  by  the  church  to  do  its 
duty  among  the  heathen,  and  one  of  the  dearest 
friends  I  ever  had  among  those  workers.  His  name 
will  be  remembered  among  the  Cantonese,  and  his 
record  found  in  the  hidden  book  which  God  is  daily 
making  up  of  the  work  done  in  his  behalf  and  from 
love  to  his  cause — the  book  where  the  record  is  full 
and  impartial. 

*'  Mr.  Preston  gave  himself  to  preaching,  and  dur- 
ing his  life  at  Canton  made  known  the  truth  to  as 
many  people,  probably,  as  any  man  who  ever  lived 
there;  I  should  say  to  more.  I  hope  Mr.  Henry  will 
be  able  to  take  up  the  same  good  work,  and  make  the 
chapel  in  the  city  where  Preston  labored  a  centre  of 
light  and  influence  for  good." 

Mr.  Preston  has  left  a  wife  and  six  children.  The 
mother  and  daughters  will  return   to  this  country, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  283 

where  his  only  son  has  been  pursuing  his  studies  for 
four  or  five  years. 

They  will  receive  the  sympathy  of  many  hearts  on 
both  sides  of  the  ocean. — Rev.  F.  F.  Fllimvood^  D.D. 


Rev.   James  M.    Priest. 

The  cause  of  Christ  in  Liberia  has  to  mourn  over 
the  death  of  the  Rev.  James  M.  Priest,  who  died 
May  17,  1883,  after  forty  years  of  exemplary  Chris- 
tian life  and  steady  labors  in  the  same  station,  Sinoe. 
— Annual  Report^  1S84. 


Mr.   James  R.    Priest. 

It  is  with  regret  we  learn  the  death  of  Mr.  James 
R.  Priest  at  Sinoe,  Liberia,  December  19,  1880.  Mr. 
Priest  was  a  teacher  appointed  two  years  ago  and 
much  was  expected  from  his  piety,  talents  and  educa- 
tion. Sincere  sympathy  is  felt  for  his  wife  and  aged 
father,  Rev.  James  M.  Priest,  now  a  second  time  be- 
reaved, his  wife  having  died  a  few  months  ago. — 
Record^  March,  iSSi. 


Rev.   John  W.    Quarterman 

Mr.  Quarterman  was  a  native  of  Georgia,  a 
graduate  of  Columbia,  S.  C,  Theological  Seminary, 
and  for  twelve  years  a  faithful  missionary  in  China. 
He  died  October  13,  1857    in  the  thirty-sixth  year  of 


284  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

his  age.  He  was  an  humble,  faithful  and  godly 
laborer,  one  who  sought  not  the  praise  of  men  and 
who  abounded  in  every  good  work.  In  his  will  he 
left  his  property  to  the  mission.  The  loss  of  such  a 
man  in  the  prime  of  life  is  a  great  bereavement ;  but 
his  work  on  earth  is  done  and  he  has  been  called  to 
receive  his  reward. — Annual  Report^  1858. 


Mrs.   Elizabeth  P.   Ramsay 

Mrs.  Ramsay,  wife  of  Rev.  James  B.  Ramsay,  of 
the  Choctaw  Mission,  died  at  Spencer  Academy,  July 
17,  1849.  Mrs.  Ramsay  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  of  pious  parents,  and  became  a  subject  of 
grace  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  D.  R.  Downer. 
In  1846  she  was  married  to  Mr.  Ramsay,  who  had 
been  appointed  superintendent  of  Spencer  Academy. 
In  April  of  that  year  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ramsay  set  out 
from  New  York  to  enter  upon  their  new  duties. 
"  The  influence  of  this  lady  upon  the  young  men  and 
youth  in  the  academy  was  most  salutary;  and  her 
kind  and  self-denying  labors  will  be  long  remembered. " 
A  few  hours  before  her  death,  to  the  question  put  by 
her  husband,  '  'Do  you  regret  coming  to  the  Choctaws?" 
she  replied  emphatically,  "  No."  She  was  perfectly 
sensible  of  her  danger;  talked  freely  upon  the  sub- 
ject; felt,  if  possible,  more  deeply  than  ever  the  in- 
dwelling corruption  of  her  heart,  and  trembled  in 
view  of  it,  but  was  enabled  to  realize  the  preciousness 
of  her  Saviour,  and  to  feel  that  he  was  all  in  all. — 
Record^  July,  1850. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions,  285 

Miss  Audie  C.   Ramsay. 

God  has  accepted  the  offering  of  one  of  our  young 
workers  and,  at  the  very  threshold  of  her  labors, 
taken  herself  instead  of  the  work  she  meant  to  do  for 
him :  but  it  is  mournful  tidings  to  the  Mission  House, 
and  will  be  a  heavy  blow  to  many  near,  personal 
friends,  that  Miss  Addie  Ramsay  has  died  from  yel- 
low fever,  at  Barranquilla,  Colombia,  August  19, 
1889,  six  days  after  landing  there.  She  sailed  with 
her  party  from  New  York,  August  i,  and  was  seasick 
most  of  the  way.  Their  vessel  touched  at  Port-au- 
Prince,  Hayti,  where  she  went  ashore  and,  it  is  sup- 
posed, came  in  contact  with  yellow  fever  which  de- 
veloped immediately  upon  reaching  Barranquilla. 
Much  sympathy  will  be  felt  for  her  sister,  Mrs.  Can- 
dor, who  with  open  arms  was  awaiting  her  coming, 
and  for  her  parents  who  have  been  for  more  than 
thirty  years  missionaries  to  the  Indians. 

Miss  Ramsay  has  been  herself  a  teacher,  for  several 
years  past,  in  a  school  for  Seminoles,  at  Wewoka, 
Indian  Territory,  and  started  for  South  America 
with  high  aims  and  in  a  spirit  of  hearty  consecration. 
—  Woman's  Wo?' k  for  Wojnan^  October,  1889. 


Mrs.   Jane  M.   Ramsay. 

Died  of  consumption,  May  30,  1853,  at  the  resi- 
dence of  her  father-in-law,  Robert  Ramsay,  Peach 
Bottom,  Pa.,  Jane  Martha,  wife  of  Rev.  J.  Ross  Ram- 
say, of  the  Creek  Mission.  She  was  born  May  29, 
1822,   and  was  the  youngest  daughter  of  John  and 


286  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Jane  Livingston.  In  infancy  Martha  was  dedicated 
to  God  in  baptism,  and  as  she  grew  up  was  carefully 
taught  his  fear.  Under  the  various  means  of  Chris- 
tian culture  her  mind  became  early  stored  with  use- 
ful knowledge,  the  most  salutary  and  comforting  to 
her  in  after-life. 

Possessing  naturally  an  active  mind  and  having  op- 
portunities of  education,  which  she  eagerly  embraced 
and  improved,  she  became  qualified  at  an  early  age 
for  teaching-,  in  which  she  enofaofed  until  her  mar- 
riage  and  entrance  upon  missionary  work.  With  her 
husband  she  reached  the  Creek  Mission  in  1849,  and 
soon  entered  with  alacrity  upon  the  duties  of  direct- 
ing the  household  affairs  of  the  mission  school,  in- 
structing the  Indian  girls  in  the  useful  arts  of  domes- 
tic life  and  preparing  suitable  clothing  for  the  boys. 
Her  chief  aim  was  to  advance  their  moral  and  religious 
culture,  in  which  she  had  great  success;  and  at  the 
same  time  won  the  esteem  and  affection  of  the  mis- 
sionaries and  children.  During  the  first  winter  she 
spent  at  Kowetah,  she  conducted  unaided  the  re- 
ligious instruction  of  many  boys  at  the  mission,  and 
often  expressed  herself  delighted  with  the  work. 
But  it  was  not  her  Master's  will  to  permit  her  thus  to 
labor  long. 

In  a  little  more  than  one  year  after  she  entered 
upon  the  mission,  she  became  a  victim  of  chills  and 
fever.  Neither  relaxation  nor  medical  skill  could 
arrest  the  malady.  Symptoms  of  consumption  soon 
made  their  appearance.  Still,  loth  to  quit  the  field 
of  labor,  for  nearly  two  years  she  bore  patiently 
these  sufferings.     It  at  length  became  apparent  to 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  287 

herself  and  all  her  associates,  that  it  was  her  duty  to 
return  home,  and  try  the  effects  of  a  more  salubrious 
climate.  This  she  did,  after  having  spent  almost 
three  years  in  the  missionary  field,  two  of  which  were 
to  her  years  of  almost  constant  suffering;  in  which 
time  also  she  was  called  to  mourn  the  loss  of  her  first 
born.  She  returned  to  her  friends,  only  to  spend  a 
short  season  with  them,  suffer  a  few  more  months  of 
affliction,  and  then  die.  She  had  honored  the  Lord 
by  the  life  she  had  lived;  it  was  his  purpose  she 
should  glorify  him  by  the  death  she  should  die.  Her 
death  was  full  of  hope  and  joyful  anticipation  of 
heaven.  She  w^as  assured  of  her  acceptance  with 
God,  had  no  dread  of  his  wrath,  no  dismay  at  the 
approach  of  "  the  king  of  terrors."  Triumphant  ex- 
pressions fell  from  her  lips.  ' '  Sweet  Jesus !  Precious 
Saviour,  cornel  I  shall  soon  be  at  home!  Is  this 
dying  ?  Weep  not !  Farewell !"  And  then  on  the  con- 
fines of  eternity,  as  if  already  catching  a  glimpse  of 
the  beatific  vision  of  God,  she  exclaimed,  "Holy! 
holy!"  and  her  happy  spirit  gently  passed  away. 

"  Yet  shall  we  weep  ;  for  oft  and  well 
Remembrance  shall  her  story  tell, 
Affection  of  her  virtues  speak, 
With  beaming  eye  and  burning  cheek  ; 
Each  action,  word,  and  look  recall, 
The  last  the  loveliest  of  all, 
When  on  the  lap  of  Death  she  lay, 
Serenely  smiled  her  soul  away, 
And  left  surviving  Friendship's  breast 
Warm  with  the  sunset  of  her  rest." 

— Rev.  T.  M.  Crawford. 


288  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Rev.    Henry  V.    Rankin. 

Henry  V.  Rankin,  son  of  William  and  Abigail 
(Ogden)  Rankin,  was  born  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  vSep- 
tember  ii,  1825. 

In  the  autumn  of  1840  he  entered  the  sophomore 
class  of  Princeton  College,  where  he  was  graduated 
in  1843.  Commencing  his  college  life  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  in  the  exuberance  of  a  social  nature  that  found 
full  scope  among  his  new  companions,  his  first  year 
at  Princeton  gave  no  promise  of  the  good  fruits  sub- 
sequently produced  in  his  earnest  and  active  life. 
Yet  even  during  this  period  the  influences  of  an  early 
religious  training,  deepened  by  the  death  of  a  younger 
sister,  which  had  occurred  two  years  before,  served  to 
restrain  him  from  yielding  to  many  temptations 
which  beset  him. 

Early  in  his  second  college  year  a  sermon  preached 
in  the  chapel  by  the  late  Prof.  Dod  was  blessed  to 
his  thorough  awakening,  yet  he  abode  for  many 
weeks  in  darkness  before  receiving  in  faith  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  as  his  only  and  all-sufficient  Saviour. 
During  this  time,  with  characteristic  frankness,  he 
freely  opened  his  whole  heart  to  those  from  whom  he 
thought  he  could  obtain  spiritual  guidance.  The 
Christian  counsel  thus  sought  was  cheerfully  given, 
and  to  some  of  the  faculty  and  students  of  Nassau 
Hall  Mr.  Rankin  felt  deeply  indebted,  throughout 
his  whole  life,  for  the  sympathy  and  aid  imparted  by 
them  in  these  days  of  his  distress.  The  light  and  joy 
of  faith  were  at  length  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
remained  within  him  until  the  day  he  fell  asleep  in 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  289 

Jesus.  In  the  newness  of  his  spiritual  life,  our  young 
brother  resolved  to  serve  God  who  had  graciously  re- 
vealed his  Son  to  him,  by  becoming  a  missionary  to 
the  heathen.  He  pondered,  upon  his  knees,  the 
questions  suggested  to  his  mind  respecting  his  call 
and  adaptedness  to  this  work,  and  his  purpose  was 
fixed  to  preach  to  those  who  had  not  heard  it,  that 
gospel  whose  power  and  preciousness  he  now  so 
fully  experienced.  His  determination  having  been 
made,  he  immediately  communicated  it  to  his  parents 
and  family  friends,  and  received  in  return  their  sad 
but  unmurmuring  assent.  He  was  now  in  the  junior 
class  of  college  and  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  his 
life,  yet  the  youthful  impulse  of  his  heart  to  carry  to 
some  heathen  people  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
Christ  never  lost  its  power  over  him.  During  his 
student  life  a  wide  circle  of  loving  friends  endeared 
his  native  land  to  his  affectionate  heart,  and  after  his 
licensure  to  preach,  attractive  fields  of  labor  were 
opened  near  his  home,  yet  there  was  no  faltering  in 
his  purpose.  In  the  spring  of  1842  he  united  with 
the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  in  Newark,  of  which 
his  parents  were  members.  After  his  graduation  at 
Princeton  in  1843,  ^^^-  Rankin  studied  for  a  year  at 
Pittsfield,  Mass. ,  and  Cincinnati,  O. ,  with  reference  to 
the  special  work  to  which  he  was  called.  A  second 
year  was  passed  by  him  in  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Auburn,  after  which  he  returned  to  Princeton,  and 
pursuing  the  course  of  theological  study  in  the  semi- 
nary there  became  an  alumnus  of  that  school  of  the 
prophets  in  the  summer  of  1847.  Having  placed 
himself  under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  Eliza- 


290  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

bethtown,  lie  was  licensed  to  preach  by  them  at  their 
stated  meeting  in  October,  1846,  and  preached  as  he 
had  opportunity  until  he  had  completed  his  course  at 
the  seminary. 

Soon  after  leaving  Princeton,  Mr.  Rankin  accepted 
an  invitation  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  First  Presby- 
terian Church  in  Rochester  for  six  months,  and  re- 
mained there,  useful  and  beloved  in  his  public  and 
private  ministrations,  until  May,  1848.  Thence  he 
went  to  St.  Louis  upon  the  invitation  of  the  Second 
Church  of  that  city,  then  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
William  S.  Potts,  D.D.  The  Sabbath-school  of  this 
church,  with  a  missionary  zeal  worthy  of  imitation, 
several  years  before  this  time  had  assumed  the  entire 
support  of  the  Rev.  Walter  M.  Lowrie,  whose  useful 
labors  in  China  were  so  suddenly  terminated  by  his 
death  at  the  hands  of  pirates  in  August,  1847.  In- 
telligence of  this  sad  event  had  reached  the  young 
people  in  Dr.  Potts'  Church,  and  they  chose  Mr, 
Rankin  to  take  the  place  of  their  martyred  missionary 
called  thus  to  a  higher  service.  He  went  therefore 
to  see  them  face  to  face,  and  his  visit  was  productive 
of  a  mutual  interest  and  correspondence  which  ceased 
not  till  the  close  of  his  life.  Hitherto  he  had  no 
choice  as  to  the  particular  field  wherein  he  should 
labor,  but  now,  out  of  these  youthful  lips,  a  definite 
providential  call  came,  which  led  him  to  regard 
China  as  his  future  home.  He  returned  from  St. 
Louis  to  his  father's  house  in  Newark,  and  in  the  First 
Church  of  that  city,  where  he  had  made  his  first  pub- 
lic profession  of  faith,  he  was  ordained  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  Elizabethtown  on  the   i8th  of  July,  1S48. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  29I 

Upon  this  occasion,  after  a  sermon  by  the  Rev. 
James  W.  Alexander,  D.D.,  the  ordination  prayer 
was  offered  by  Dr.  David  Magie,  and  the  charge  to 
the  missionary  given  by  his  brother,  Rev.  Edward  E. 
Rankin. 

On  the  20th  of  July,  two  days  after  his  ordination, 
Mr.  Rankin  was  married,  in  the  Second  Church  of 
Brooklyn,  by  Dr.  Jonathan  Greenleaf,  to  Mary 
Greenleaf  Knight,  daughter  of  Mr.  Franklin  Knight, 
and  niece  of  the  officiating  minister.  A  brother  of 
Mrs.  Rankin  is  a  clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  New  Jersey.  One  of  her  sisters 
subsequently  married  the  Rev.  William  W.  Scudder, 
of  the  Arcot  Mission,  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church 
in  India,  from  whence  her  loving  spirit  ascended  to 
the  Saviour  on  the  14th  of  September,  1855.  Another 
is  the  wife  of  Dr.  D.  B.  McCartee,  of  the  Ningpo 
Mission,  in  China,  under  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and 
had  the  sad  satisfaction  of  ministering  by  the  dying 
bed  of  her  beloved  brother.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rankin 
sailed  from  New  York  in  company  of  a  few  other 
missionaries  on  the  7  th  of  October,  1848,  and  reached 
Ningpo  early  in  the  ensuing  year. 

They  found  a  large  and  open  field,  upon  the  culti- 
vation of  which  they  entered  at  once.  Within 
the  city  walls  was  a  population  of  three  hundred 
thousand  souls;  in  the  villages  pressing  closely  upon 
it  were  tens  of  thousands  more,  and  other  populous 
cities  were  within  reach  of  their  influence  and  labors. 
The  mission  of  Ningpo  had  been  commenced  about 
four  years  before,  and  some  progress  had  already 
been  made  in  the  several  works  of  preaching,  teach- 


292  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

ing,  printing  and  visitation.  In  schools  of  Christian 
instruction  the  efforts  of  both  were  early  enlisted,  and 
from  them  the  first  fruits  of  a  spiritual  harvest  were 
gathered.  Near  to  the  dwellings  of  the  missionaries 
on  the  river  side  the  schoolhouse  and  chapel  stood, 
fountains  of  saving  truth  unto  some  who  were  gath- 
ered through  the  labors  of  that  little  band,  who  had 
come  at  the  call  of  the  Spirit  and  the  Bride  to  impart 
instructions  to  those  that  were  perishing.  In  the 
heart  of  that  great  city  other  places  were  found  where 
the  same  work  could  be  carried  on.  The  leaves  of 
the  tree  of  life  were  distributed  from  the  printing 
press,  which  daily  received  attention  in  its  mechanical 
work  and  in  providing  words  of  truth  written  in  a 
language  to  which  such  words  were  new.  Apostolic 
journeys  were  made  from  the  central  station  into  the 
regions  beyond,  and  from  time  to  time  new  churches 
were  gathered.  Men  born  in  China  and  educated  in 
all  its  idolatry,  through  the  blessing  of  God  upon 
these  labors,  became  disciples  of  Christ.  Elders 
were  chosen  to  rule  in  these  newly  organized  churches ; 
a  few,  thoroughly  instructed  by  the  missionaries  in 
Christian  doctrine,  have  been  licensed  to  preach  the 
gospel,  and  after  probation  ordained  as  pastors. 
When,  near  the  close  of  his  active  ministry,  Mr.  Ran- 
kin looked  back  to  the  state  of  things  existing  when 
he  commenced  his  labors,  he  found  abundant  occasion 
for  praise  to  the  Lord  of  the  harvest  who  had  not 
permitted  his  servants  to  labor  in  vain.  He  recalled 
the  time  of  feeble  beginnings,  the  day  of  small  things, 
when  a  few  children  were  gathered  in  the  schools 
and  a  small  number  of  hearers  came  to  the  chapel 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  293 

service ;  through  fifteen  years  of  toil  in  the  strength 
of  his  manhood,  he  and  his  fellow-workers  had  wept 
and  prayed  amidst  many  discouragements,  yet  the 
work  had  still  gone  on.  One  and  another  had  been 
stricken  down  with  sickness  and  left  for  a  season,  or 
forever,  the  scenes  consecrated  by  the  presence  of 
God's  Spirit.  In  early  manhood  Mr.  Rankin  became 
the  senior  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  at 
Ningpo,  but  the  line  of  heavenly  hght  was  shining 
broader  and  brighter  over  the  dark-minded  people 
among  whom  he  and  his  companions  had  been  hold- 
ing forth  the  word  of  life. 

In  the  year  1856,  Mr.  Rankin  was  constrained  by 
the  failure  of  his  wife's  health  to  visit  the  United 
States.  His  own  strength  then  seemed  unimpaired 
by  the  constant  drain  upon  his  energies  in  the  multi- 
form duties  of  his  station.  On  the  day  he  landed 
with  his  family  in  New  York,  which  was  the  Sabbath, 
he  preached  for  his  brother,  a  pastor  in  that  city,  be- 
ginning thus  a  series  of  labors  which  was  continued 
in  different  portions  of  the  country  so  long  as  he  re- 
mained. Visiting  almost  every  State  in  the  Union, 
in  addition  to  pulpit  preaching,  he  sought  opportuni- 
ties in  seminaries,  colleges  and  schools,  to  present  to 
the  youth  of  the  land  the  claims  of  the  foreign  mis- 
sionary work.  When  the  object  of  this  home  visit 
had  been  obtained,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rankin  again 
turned  their  faces  with  gladness  towards  the  land  of 
their  adoption,  the  place  of  their  chosen  labor.  Ar- 
riving in  China,  where  the  grave  of  their  first  born 
had  been  made,  they  were  called  to  the  severe  trial 
of   laying  two  more  of  their  children  in  the  dust. 


294  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

Amidst  scenes  thus  hallowed  by  toils  and  tears,  the 
parents,  with  three  of  their  offspring  still  spared  to 
them,  entered  anew  upon  their  duties  and  continued 
them  until  i860,  when  it  became  evident  that  the  life 
of  Mrs.  Rankin  depended  upon  her  return  to  America. 
After  painful  and  prayerful  deliberation,  he  decided 
that,  for  a  season,  he  must  be  separated  from  a  wife 
and  children  whom  he  dearly  loved.  He  felt  that 
the  work  in  China  was  too  pressing  and  the  laborers 
too  few  to  permit  him  to  bear  them  company.  For 
two  years  he  bore  the  burden  and  heat  of  each  day 
alone,  yet  sustained  by  the  presence  of  that  Lord  in 
whom  he  trusted,  and  cheered  by  the  constant  work 
he  was  doing  for  him. 

During  this  period  the  storm  of  civil  war  was  rag- 
ing in  China.  As  the  rebel  army  swept  over  large 
portions  of  the  empire,  the  city  of  Ningpo  became  in 
its  turn  an  object  of  their  attack.  When  the  hosts 
of  the  Taiping  leader  approached  the  walls,  the 
missionaries,  knowing  the  hostility  of  these  people 
to  all  idolatry,  hoped  to  find  favor  from  them  for 
the  Christian  community  in  the  city  and  suburban 
villages.  Two  of  their  number,  of  whom  Mr.  Ran- 
kin was  one,  went  forth  from  the  gate  and  sought 
an  interview  with  the  commander-in-chief.  From 
him  they  obtained  the  promise  of  immunity  from 
death  and  pillage  for  all  the  Christian  Chinese. 
' '  The  angel  of  the  Lord  was  round  about  them 
that  feared  him  and  deUvered  them."  When  the 
city  was  captured,  the  idol  temples  were  destroyed 
and  many  of  the  people  perished  by  the  sword,  but 
the   native    believers   in  Jesus   were  kept   from  all 


OF   THE   BOARD    OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  295 

harm.  Amid  these  anxieties  and  labors  the  year 
186 1  was  closed. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  next  year,  Mrs.  Rankin  re- 
turned to  find  her  husband  greatly  broken  down  in 
health.  His  naturally  vigorous  constitution  was 
giving  way  under  the  pressure  of  continued  w^ork  in 
the  unwholesome  climate  of  Ningpo.  He  went,  in 
September,  to  Shanghai,  that  he  might  meet  and 
v.^elcome  his  wife  and  two  youngest  children.  In 
December  they  returned  to  Ningpo,  where,  although 
suffering  much,  he  continued  his  labors  until  late  in 
April,  1863.  On  the  20th  of  that  month  he  wrote 
thus  to  the  Senior  Secretary  of  the  Board:  "  I  wrote 
you  on  the  eve  of  departing  for  Shantung,  where  my 
failing  health  admonishes  me  to  seek  a  change  before 
the  weather  completely  prostrates  me.  As  you  will 
have  learned  before  this,  I  began  to  be  troubled 
towards  the  close  of  the  summer  with  diarrhoea  and 
dyspepsia,  which  were  increased  during  my  stay  at 
Shanghai.  These  were  followed  by  a  severe  abscess, 
which,  on  account  of  my  feeble  health,  cannot  yet  be 
operated  upon,  and  which  has  been  very  trouble- 
some. I  have  also  suffered  from  a  heavy  cough, 
which  left  me  for  a  couple  of  months  but  has  again 
returned. 

"  I  am  greatly  reduced  in  flesh  and  at  times  exceed- 
ingly weak,  though  for  days  together  I  seem  to  im- 
prove in  all  respects.  I  have  preached  occasionally 
during  the  winter  and  tried  to  do  some  other  mis- 
sionary work,  but  it  has  been  done  truly  in  great 
weakness,  and  I  almost  feel  that  I  am  a  cumberer  of 
the  ground.     Dr.  John  Parker,  who  is  now  our  mis- 


296  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

sion  physician  and  a  very  sensible  as  also  a  truly 
pious  man,  advises  me  to  go  home,  and  the  brethren 
of  our  mission,  feeling  that  Shantung  is  a  forlorn 
hope,  have  urged  the  same  upon  me ;  yet,  after  much 
prayer  and  thought,  it  appears  to  me  that  my  duty  is 
rather  to  avail  myself  of  an  opportunity  now  offering 
for  Chefoo,  where  Dr.  McCartee  has  encouraged  me 
to  go,  and  pass  the  summer  at  Tungchow.  The 
climate  of  Shantung  has  been  so  much  extolled  for 
invalids  that  it  would  hardly  be  just  to  the  Board  and 
the  church  to  turn  one's  back  on  China  without  first 
trying  it ;  and  the  circumstances  are  so  favorable  in 
that  I  can  obtain  perfect  rest  at  the  house  of  our  dear 
friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Nevius,  and  have  the  attend- 
ance of  our  valued  physician.  If  the  experiment 
proves  favorable  in  my  case,  it  may  be  tried  with 
increased  confidence  by  others.  Going  home  in  this 
critical  period  in  our  country's  history  is  not  only  a 
matter  of  risk,  but  also  it  would  be  discouraging  to 
the  church,  especially  so  soon  after  the  arrival  of  my 
family.  Moreover,  the  laborers  are  now  so  few  that 
none  of  us  can  be  spared  if  it  is  possible  for  us  to  live 
here. 

"An  admirable  opportunity  lately  occurred  from 
Shanghai,  for  Japan  and  California,  but  though  ad- 
vised to  take  it  by  my  best  friends,  I  did  not  have  the 
heart  to  turn  my  back  on  China.  It  may  be  that 
God  will  yet  permit  me  to  labor  for  him  a  few  3^ears 
more  in  this  field ;  but,  if  not,  his  will  be  done.  My 
wife  and  children  and  our  associates  are  all  well.  I 
feel  that  the  work  here  is  under  the  management  of 
wise  and  able  men,  and  that  they  are  all  far  better 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  297 

examples  to  the  flock  than  I  have  been.  In  reviewing 
my  missionary  career  for  the  fourteen  years  and  more 
since  I  reached  China,  there  is  much  to  sadden  me; 
for  I  fear  I  have  been  rather  a  busy  than  a  faithful 
laborer.  Oh !  were  it  not  for  the  blood  of  Christ  to 
wash  away  all  our  delinquencies  and  sins,  life  would 
be  worse  than  a  blank." 

Mr.  Rankin  reached  Tungchow  in  May,  and,  sur- 
rounded by  loving  friends,  lingered  in  the  house  of 
his  pilgrimage  until  July  2,  when  he  fell  asleep  in 
Jesus  and  his  spirit  departed  for  the  better  country. 
One  of  his  latest  letters  was  addressed  to  a  secretary 
of  the  American  Tract  Society.  It  enclosed  a  dona- 
tion for  the  objects  of  that  institution,  in  the  benefi- 
cent effects  of  whose  work  at  home  and  abroad  he 
expressed  a  deep  interest;  the  letter  closes  with  these 
words:  "  It  has  been  a  blessed  privilege  to  be  a  mis- 
sionary to  this  benighted  yet  most  interesting  people 
for  so  long  a  time,  and  I  only  wonder  that  so  few 
are  disposed  to  fill  up  our  rapidly  diminishing  ranks." 

The  last  days  of  our  brother  were  days  of  peace ; 
knowing  that  the  time  of  his  departure  drew  nigh,  he 
resigned  himself  cheerfully  to  the  will  of  God. 

He  had  been  since  his  conversion  a  constant  and 
diligent  student  of  the  Scripture,  and  its  power  to  com- 
fort him  was  manifest  as  his  flesh  was  faihng.  A 
friend  was  quoting  by  his  bedside  the  passage:  ''  All 
things  shall  work  together  for  good,"  when  he  cor- 
rected him,  expressing  at  the  same  time  his  own 
present  confidence  of  faith.  ^'No!  not  shall,"  said 
he,  ''but  all  things  work,  are  working  now,  for 
good." 


290  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

On  the  morning  of  July  2,  1863,  he  was  lying-  feebly 
but  tranquilly,  speaking  to  the  dear  friends  about 
him.  His  last  message  had  been  sent  to  his  eldest 
child,  a  son  at  school  in  the  United  States.  A  note 
full  of  filial  and  brotherly  affection  had  been  sent  to 
one  of  his  sisters  at  home.  His  farewell  words  were 
spoken  calmly  to  the  beloved  wife  and  two  little 
daughters,  who  were  with  him  in  his  chamber  of 
sickness.  With  the  exception  of  a  brief  period  of 
aberration,  his  intellect  was  clear  to  the  last.  To  his 
dear  friends,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McCartee,  and  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Nevius,  and  to  a  native  Christian,  who  were  at- 
tending him,  he  expressed  his  abiding  interest  in 
their  common  work  and  his  unfaltering  trust  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  As  the  sun  reached  its  meridian, 
his  blessed  spirit  ascended  to  behold  the  vSun  of 
righteousness.  The  legacy  of  Jesus  was  received  by 
him  in  all  its  fullness — peace  here,  glory  beyond. 
After  nearly  thirty-eight  years  of  life  upon  earth, 
more  than  half  of  which  were  full  of  usefulness,  he 
fell  asleep. 

Within  the  soil  of  that  empire,  for  whose  people  he 
had  given  his  strength  that  he  might  win  some  of 
them  to  Christ,  his  body  rests. 

The  voyager  in  the  northern  Chinese  seas,  as  he  ap- 
proaches the  province  of  Shantung,  may  see  upon 
the  hill  that  overlooks  the  city  of  Tungchow,  among 
other  stones  there  set  up,  one  of  pure  w^hite  marble. 
Beneath  it  is  all  that  was  mortal  of  Henry  V. 
Rankin. 

There,  by  loving  friends,  who  mourned  not  as  those 
without  hope,  was  his  body  laid  to  await  the  da}^  of 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  299 

resurrection.  But  this  marble  monument  is  not  his 
best  or  most  lasting  memorial. 

He  is  remembered  by  many  in  his  native  land  as  an 
unwavering-  friend,  a  Christian  scholar,  a  devoted  fol- 
lower of  Jesus,  and  an  eloquent  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel. His  frank  and  generous  spirit  and  his  guileless 
life  have  left  their  fragrance  in  many  homes,  and  his 
works  have  followed  him  to  the  mansions  of  his 
Father's  house  above. 

In  the  schools  and  chapel  of  Ningpo,  the  place  of 
his  missionary  labors,  his  memorial  abides  in  souls 
once  benighted  by  heathenism,  now  rejoicing  in  the 
light  of  gospel  truth.  His  remains  are  still  speaking 
their  instructive  doctrine.  His  pure  and  prayerful 
life  still  abides  an  eloquent  example. 

From  select  portions  of  God's  Holy  Book,  which  he 
translated  and  published,  the  words  of  life  shall  long 
enter  into  heathen  dwellings.  The  sweet  hymns 
composed  by  him  shall  long  continue  to  ascend  from 
lips  that  have  learned  to  sing  in  the  language  of  China 
the  praises  of  Emanuel. 

These  are  his  best  memorials  and  they  can  never 
be  forgotten.  Before  the  throne  of  God  some  are 
now  standing,  and  others  shall  be  gathered  who  have 
been  instructed  by  our  departed  brother  in  the  v/ay 
of  salvation.  As  they  cast  their  crowns  before  the 
Lamb,  they  will  ever  praise  him  through  whose  grace 
this  faithful  teacher  was  sent  to  tell  them  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  love  of  that  Saviour  whose  cross  he  so 
earnestly  preached. — Rev.  E.  E.  Rankin ^  D.D.^  1864. 


300  necrological  record 

Rev.  William  Reed. 

Mr.  Reed  was  one  of  the  first  two  missionaries  ap- 
pointed to  the  foreign  field.  His  early  years,  of 
which  little  is  known  to  the  writer  of  this  notice, 
were  spent  in  Mifflin  county,  Pa.  He  was  graduated 
at  Jefferson  College,  pursued  his  theological  studies 
at  Allegheny,  was  appointed  as  a  missionary  early  in 
January,  1832,  spent  several  months  after  his  licensure 
to  preach  the  gospel  in  efforts  to  awaken  among  the 
churches  an  interest  in  the  cause  of  missions,  em- 
barked for  India  with  his  wife  in  May,  1833,  and  ar- 
rived at  Calcutta  in  October,  1S33.  He  and  his  col- 
league spent  the  next  nine  months  in  that  city  and 
its  vicinity,  learning  the  language  of  the  Hindus. 
During  this  period  Mr.  Reed's  health  began  to  give 
way.  Symptoms  of  pulmonary  disease  gradually  be- 
came so  marked  that  his  medical  advisers  recom- 
mended his  return  to  his  native  country,  their  opinion 
and  his  own  concurring  in  the  hope  of  his  life  being 
thereby  prolonged  for  several  years,  if  his  health 
should  not  be  completely  restored.  Accordingly  he 
and  his  wife  embarked  for  Philadelphia  in  July,  but 
his  health  rapidly  declined,  and  on  the  12th  of  August, 
1834,  he  entered  into  rest,  in  the  thirty-second  year 
of  his  age.  His  remains  were  committed  to  the  sea, 
near  one  of  the  Andaman  Islands,  in  the  Bay  of 
Bengal.  Mrs.  Reed  and  her  little  son  reached  the 
end  of  the  voyage  in  December;  both  are  still  living, 
and  are  held  in  high  esteem  as  active  members  of 
the  church,  she  having  again  entered  into  married 
life.     Mr.  Reed  was  a  man  of  excellent  mind,  respect- 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  30I 

able  scholarship,  blameless  character  and  sincere 
piety.  These  gifts  and  spiritual  grace,  united  to  the 
best  habits  of  industry  and  much  of  energy,  led  the 
church  to  form  the  hope  of  his  being  very  useful  in 
the  service  of  Christ  among  the  heathen.  It  was  not 
unreasonable  to  expect  that  in  a  long  life  such  a  man 
would  do  great  good.  Nor  can  it  be  questioned  that 
even  the  short  course  allotted  to  him  was  spent  in 
the  best  way ;  his  life  and  his  example  were  known  to 
a  large  number  of  Christian  friends;  his  being  one  of 
the  first  missionaries  of  a  new  and  distinctively 
ecclesiastical  organization,  was  itself  a  fact  of  much 
moment  at  the  time  and  worthy  of  remembrance. 
But  in  reference  to  him,  as  also  to  many  others,  the 
church  must  recognize  the  will  of  the  Lord  as  the 
highest  reason  to  account  for  all  the  mysteries  of 
Providence.  "As  for  God,  his  way  is  perfect." — 
/.  C.  L. 

Mrs.  Elizabeth  (Grahai^i)  Reid. 

Mrs.  Reid,  wife  of  Rev.  Alexander  Reid,  of  the 
Choctaw  Mission,  died  June  4,  1854.  She  reached 
that  mission  under  appointment  of  the  Board  in 
September,  1850,  and  was  united  in  marriage  to  Mr. 
Reid  the  same  month.  Her  parents  were  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  and  she  was  the  sister  of  Rev.  Alexander  J. 
Graham,  of  the  same  mission,  who  died  July  23,  1850, 
about  two  months  before  she  joined  it. 

Her  end  was  happy  and  peaceful,  but  her  loss 
was  most  sensibly  felt,  not  only  by  her  sorrowing 
husband  and  the  mission  family,  but  by  the  pupils  of 


302  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Spencer  Academy,  to  whose  welfare  and  happiness 
she  had  assiduously  devoted  all  her  energies  during- 
the  four  years  of  her  connection  with  the  mission. — 
Annual  Report^  1S55. 

Rev.   Solomon  Reutlinger. 

In  April,  1865,  Rev.  S.  Reutlinger,  then  laboring 
in  Wisconsin,  wrote  to  the  Ex.  Committee  offering 
himself  as  a  missionary.  He  was  born  near  Zurich, 
Switzerland,  in  1838,  and  studied  for  a  missionary  at 
the  Basel  Mission  House.  When  his  course  was  com- 
pleted the  Basel  Society  were  unable  to  send  him  to 
Africa,  for  the  want  of  funds.  He  came  to  this  coun- 
try and  was  pastor  for  a  time  of  the  German  Reformed 
Church  at  Ashford,  Wis.  There  he  wrote,  '*I  can- 
not be  at  peace;  the  call  to  the  foreign  field  seems 
clearer  than  ever,  although  I  have  tried  to  persuade 
myself  that  I  am  here  at  my  post  of  duty."  In  har- 
mony with  his  wishes  and  with  the  demands  of  the 
work  he  was  appointed  in  1866  to  Corisco,  to  which 
country  he  sailed  the  same  year,  and  in  January,  1867, 
landed  on  the  island  of  Corisco.  With  energy  and 
zeal  he  devoted  himself  to  this  work  and  has  labored 
efficiently  both  on  the  island  and  on  the  mainland  to 
win  souls  to  Jesus.  On  the  9th  of  June  he  started 
from  Benita  to  go  into  the  interior,  and  to  a  point 
never  yet  reached  by  a  white  man.  On  the  road  he 
was  attacked  with  erysipelas  in  the  head  and  face. 
It  was  some  days  before  this  was  known  at  Benita, 
when  Dr.  Nassau  started  to  his  relief.  The  disease 
during  this  time  was  unchecked  by  medicine.     He 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  303 

was  brought  back  to  his  station  at  Benita,  but  all  the 
remedies  tried  to  conquer  the  disease  proved  unavail- 
ing, and  he  sank  to  rest  on  the  morning  of  July  17, 
1869.  He  was  for  most  of  the  time  unconscious  of 
his  real  condition.  ''Our  brother's  integrity,"  says 
Dr.  Nassau,  "  and  conscientiousness  while  living  left 
with  us  the  testimony  of  a  heart  at  peace  with  God." 
His  widow  hopes  to  remain  at  her  post  and  continue 
her  work  among  the  women  at  Benita. — Foreign  Mis- 
sionary^ November,  1869. 

Mrs.  Reutlinger,  who  went  with  him  to  Africa,  is 
still  there  in  the  service  of  the  Board. 


Rev.   Ellsworth  G.   Ritchie. 

Sad  intelligence  has  been  received  from  the  Shan- 
tung Mission  of  the  death  of  Rev.  Ellsworth  G. 
Ritchie,  who  died  on  the  12th  of  September,  1890,  at 
Tungchow,  from  an  attack  of  dysentery. 

He  had  been  ill  about  two  v/eeks,  and  confidently 
expected  to  recover  until  the  very  last,  but,  upon 
being  informed  by  his  physician  that  he  had  but  a 
very  short  time  to  live,  he  answered  immediately,  "  I 
am  not  afraid  to  die,"  and  expressed  even  joy  at  the 
thought  of  being  so  soon  in  heaven.  During  his  re- 
maining five  hours  of  consciousness  he  seemed  only 
concerned  with  completing  arrangements  for  his  de- 
parture and  the  sending  of  affectionate  messages  to 
his  friends. 

Mr.  Ritchie  leaves  a  young  wife  who  had  shared 
his  labors  for  only  about  a  year,  but  to  whom  God 


304  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

seems  to  fulfill  his  promise  of  needed 
is  her  overwhelming  loss.  The  mission  and  the 
Board  share  the  sense  of  loss.  Hopes  are  disap- 
pointed, and  the  force  of  the  mission  is  seriously  im- 
paired. 

Mr.  Ritchie  had  been  selected  to  fill  an  important 
position  in  the  Tungchow  College,  a  sphere  for  which 
he  was  thought  to  be  particularly  fitted. 

He  was  the  son  of  Rev.  A.  Ritchie,  of  Cincinnati, 
who  had  carefully  watched  over  his  early  training 
and  had  hoped  that  he  might  fill  some  post  in  the 
church  at  home ;  yet  he  had  cheerfully  given  him  up, 
in  view  of  his  strong  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  heathen.  In  his  application  to  the  Board  for  ap- 
pointment, made  many  months  ago,  Mr.  Ritchie 
says,  * '  I  find  in  my  diary  of  about  five  years  ago  a 
prayer  that  I  might  some  day  become  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary." This  desire  and  prayer  had  only  gained 
strength  during  his  course  of  education  and  was  ful- 
filled in  his  appointment  to  north  China.  The  field, 
also,  which  he  had  hoped  might  be  the  sphere  of  his 
labor  was  the  one  to  which  he  was  sent.  There  is 
comfort  in  the  thought  that  he  was  in  just  the  service 
and  in  just  the  place  in  which  he  had  desired  to  be. 
God  had  granted  him  his  wish,  and  he  was  happy  in 
feeling  that  his  own  choice  was  in  accordance  with 
the  will  of  God. 

Of  his  qualifications  for  the  work.  Dr.  Herrick 
Johnson,  as  one  of  his  instructors,  wrote  many 
months  ago:  "Here  is  a  choice  soul  of  excellent  cul- 
ture, refinement  and  genial  courtesy,  with  good  gifts 
of  mind  and  heart.      He  stands  well  as  a  student,  is 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  30$ 

genuinely  and  heartily  consecrated,  has  a  fine  public 
address  and  will  win  his  way  anywhere." 

That  this  high  estimate  w^as  sustained  in  the  good 
opinion  of  his  fellow-missionaries  is  sufficiently  at- 
tested by  the  fact  that  they  had  selected  him  to  fill  so 
important  a  position. 

The  impressive  fact  is  borne  in  upon  us  once  more 
that  no  one  seems  necessary  for  God's  work  in 
evangelizing  the  world.  Rich  gifts  of  mind  and 
heart  are  required,  and  as  we  may  believe  are  most 
acceptable  to  the  Master,  but  again  and  again  we  are 
reminded  that  our  reliance  is  not  on  human  but  on 
divine  power. — CJiurcJi  at  Home  ajid  Abroad^  Decem- 
ber, 1890. 

Rev.   William  S.   Robertson. 

The  following  simple  but  not  less  eloquent  obituary 
notice  of  the  late  Rev.  W.  S.  R^obertson,  written  by 
the  esteemed  native  judge,  L.  C.  Ferryman,  has  been 
translated  from  The  Indian  Journal  :'^ 

"  The  teacher,  Mr.  Robertson,  late  superintendent 
of  the  TuUahassee  school,  departed  from  this  world 
on  the  26th  of  June,  1881.  It  is  now  about  the 
thirty-third  year  since  he  came  into  this  country. 
When  he  came  here,  although  a  young  man,  he  had 
finished  his  education,  and  brought  his  diploma  with 
him ;  and  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  teaching  chil- 
dren. When  fully  settled  in  this,  having  procured  a 
wife  and  brought  her  with  him,  they  went  on  helping 

*  Mr.  Robertson's  conneclion  with  the  Creek  Mission  began 
in  1850. 


306  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

each  other  with  the  one  object  of  being  a  light  to  the 
children  of  the  Muskokees  until  the  war  came.  The 
school  being  discontinued,  they  moved  north  and 
taught  the  Indians  that  live  north,  until,  when  peace 
was  made,  they  returned  again  to  the  Muskokees. 

'^  He  then  entered  upon  his  former  work,  and  con- 
tinued to  make  that  his  sole  object  until  he  finished 
his  time  upon  earth.  A  man  of  such  learning  as  he 
it  may  be  that  we  shall  never  have  a.gain,  and  it  may 
be  that  we  shall  never  see  again  a  man  of  sucii 
righteousness.  It  may  be  that  there  is  not  another 
white  man  such  a  friend  to  the  Indians  as  was  he. 

"The  nation  intrusting  large  sums  of  money  to  his 
hands  every  year,  asking  of  him  no  written  security, 
but  relying  fully  on  his  integrity,  he  continued  his 
care  until  death  came  to  him.  And  it  is  probable  no 
one  can  say  that  he  ever  wasted  anything,  no  one 
that  he  ever  deceived  him.  And  there  is  no  one  that 
says  he  ever  meddled  with  our  politics.  But  the 
Muskokees  say  he  was  a  very  righteous  man,  and  the 
light  of  his  work  will  continue  as  long  as  the  Musko- 
kees exist. 

"  We  may  well  grieve  over  the  loss  of  our  teacher, 
and  sympathize  with  the  family  he  has  left  in  their 
grief." — Foreign  Missionary^  October,  iSSi. 

Mrs.   a.   Rudolph. 

Mrs.  Rudolph,  wife  of  Rev.  Adolph  Rudolph,  of 
the  Lodiana  Mission,  India,  died  September  8,  1849. 
She  was  a  woman  of  great  excellence  of  character 
and  her  missionary  labors  in  the  charge  of  the  Girls' 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  307 

Orphan  Asylum  were  incessant  and  invaluable.  Her 
removal  is  greatly  lamented  by  her  associates  in  the 
mission,  but  their  loss  is  doubtless  her  gain. — Annual 
Report^  1850. 

Rev.   Mr.   and  Mrs.   A.   Rudolph. 

Mrs.  Rudolph,  the  second  wife  of  Rev.  A.  Rudolph, 
went  to  India  in  1851,  and  died  at  Sabathu  April  10, 
1884.  For  more  than  thirty-two  years  she  shared  the 
mission  work  with  her  husbaftd,  and  her  removal  was 
a  sore  trial  to  this  aged  disciple.  They  were  both 
highly  esteemed  for  their  great  fidelity  to  their  work. 

Mr.  Rudolph's  health  failing  he  left  India  for  Ger- 
many, his  native  country,  not  long  after  his  bereave- 
ment. There  he  gained  such  benefit  that  with  the 
best  medical  encouragement  he  set  out  on  his  return 
to  his  chosen  work;  but  he  was  taken  with  such 
serious  illness  on  the  way  that  he  was  compelled  to 
relinquish  the  hope  of  further  labor  as  a  missionary. 
His  last  days  were  spent  with  his  son,  a  minister  in 
Germany,  he  being  sustained  by  a  blessed  hope 
through  divine  grace. — Annual  Report^  1885  and 
1888. 

Rev.    Robert  W.    Sawyer. 

Mr.  Sawyer  was  a  native  of  New  York,  pursued  his 
course  of  collegiate  and  theological  study  at  Prince- 
ton, N.  J.,  went  with  his  wife  as  a  missionary  to 
Western  Africa  in  1841,  and  died  at  Settra  Kroo, 
December  i,  1843.     His  death  is  thus  referred  to  in 


3o8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  Missionary  Chronicle  of  May,  1844:  ''We  mourn 
over  the  death  of  this  excellent  brother.  The  church 
has  no  servant  more  devoted  than  he  was,  and  none 
more  worthy  of  respect  and  confidence." 

Mrs.  Sawyer,  with  great  devotedness,  continued  at 
the  station  alone  for  some  time.  She  was  married  in 
December,  1844,  to  the  Rev.  James  M.  Connelly, 
who  had  joined  the  mission  in  that  year.  At  the  end 
of  1849,  after  much  faithful  labor  among*  the  Kroo 
people,  considerations  of  health  required  their  return 
to  this  country, — /.  C.  L. 


Rev.   James  L.    Scott. 

We  learn  with  much  regret  the  death  of  Rev. 
James  L.  Scott,  at  Dehra,  January  2,  1880,  in  the 
sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  He  was  a  missionary 
in  India  from  1839  to  1867,  when  he  returned  to  this 
country  on  account  of  his  health.  He  was  reap- 
pointed in  1877  with  the  expectation  of  useful  service 
in  preparing  a  commentary  on  the  Psalms  in  Hin- 
dustani, and  also  to  be  employed  in  work  connected 
with  the  Woodstock  School  of  which  Mrs.  Scott  is 
principal.  But  he  was  not  permitted  to  continue  long 
in  his  chosen  work.  He  was  highly  esteemed  by  his 
brethren  as  a  man  of  excellent  qualifications  for  mis- 
sionary labors  and  one  who  was  always  found  faith- 
ful. We  doubt  not  he  has  entered  into  the  heavenly 
rest.  Sincere  sympathy  will  be  felt  for  his  wife  and 
children, — Record,  April,  1880, 

**  Mr.  Scott  was  patient,  conscientious  and  faithful 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  309 

in  the  discharge  of  all  his  duties,  the  same  earnest, 
cheerful  worker  whether  presiding  over  the  Christian 
village  of  Rakha  with  its  many  perplexing  cares,  en- 
gaged in  literary  labor,  or  preaching  the  gospel  in  the 
district." — India  Missions  Scmi-Ccntennial^  1884. 

Mrs.   Christiana  M.   Scott. 

Mrs.  Scott  was  the  only  daughter  of  the  late  Rev. 
W.  F.  Houston,  of  Columbia,  Pa.  Having  lost  her 
mother  when  very  young,  she  was  trained  up  princi- 
pally by  her  father,  and  at  the  age  of  about  fifteen 
she  publicly  gave  herself  to  the  Saviour,  and  soon 
became  an  active  member  of  the  church  in  her  native 
place.  Her  hand  and  heart  were  ready  for  every 
work  of  love  and  benevolence.  She  established  an 
infant-school,  and  conducted  it  herself,  until  her 
health  constrained  her,  reluctantly,  to  give  up  the 
work.  She  also  superintended  a  large  Sabbath- 
school  of  colored  people,  and  labored  successfully  in 
endeavoring  to  raise  this  neglected  people  from  their 
degraded  condition.  She  was  an  active  member  of  a 
female  association  for  promoting  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions, and  not  only  labored  diligently  for  the  interests 
of  the  society,  but  having  considered  the  subject  of 
going  in  person  to  labor  for  the  heathen,  she  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  dedicated  herself  to  the  Lord  in 
this  blessed  work.  Not  many  months  had  elapsed 
after  this  vow  was  made  and  recorded  in  her  private 
journals,  before  the  Lord  brought  her  faith  and  prin- 
ciples to  the  test,  by  providentially,  and  quite  unex- 
pectedly to  her,  opening  up  a  way  for  her  to  go  in 


3IO  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

person ;  and  feeling  assured  that  his  hand  was  lead- 
ing her,  she  pledged  herself  to  go.  In  the  following 
year  her  father  was  taken  from  her;  but  with  his 
last  parting  breath  he  again  consecrated  her  to  the 
work  of  the  Lord  among  the  heathen;  in  1838  she 
was  married  to  the  Rev.  James  L.  Scott,  who  was 
on  the  eve  of  sailing  as  a  missionary  for  northern 
India. 

In  August,  1839,  she  and  her  husband  arrived  in 
Futtehgurh,  and  joined  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  in  their 
labors.  Mrs.  Scott  was  soon  actively  engaged  with 
Mrs.  Wilson  in  the  female  department  of  the  orphan 
asylum ;  and  a  few  months  after  this,  when  Mrs.  Wil- 
son's health  rendered  it  necessary  for  her  to  spend  a 
season  in  the  hills,  Mrs.  Scott  took  the  entire  charge 
of  the  female  department  of  the  school,  and  con- 
ducted it  for  nearly  twelve  months  with  great  energy 
and  success.  When  her  connection  with  the  school 
ceased,  she  gave  more  of  her  time  to  the  language, 
and  translated  a  small  volume  into  Hindustani,  which 
was  published. 

After  remaining  at  this  station  for  about  two  years, 
when  Mrs.  Wilson's  health  again  failed,  and  rendered 
it  necessary  for  her  to  return  to  America,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Scott  were  called  to  take  the  entire  charge  of 
the  asylum  at  Futtehgurh.  Here  she  commenced 
once  more  with  her  usual  energy  to  instruct  the  girls 
in  English  and  Hindustani,  to  superintend  their  work, 
and  to  labor  with  her  own  hands ;  and  her  exertions 
were  so  great  that  one  short  year  had  not  elapsed  be- 
fore these,  in  connection  with  other  causes,  had  laid 
the  foundation  of  fatal  disease. 


OF  THE   BOARD   O?   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  3II 

When  her  physician  advised  her  to  spend  a  season 
in  the  hills,  knowing  how  much  her  husband  was  re- 
quired at  his  post,  she  resolved  to  go  alone,  and  tak- 
ing her  infant  son,  she  traveled  by  ''dak"  a  distance 
of  about  five  hundred  miles,  in  ten  nights,  with  none 
but  the  heathen  around  her.  When  her  physicians 
advised  her  to  return  to  America,  she  again  proposed 
and  finally  determined  to  go  alone,  because  she  felt 
that  the  Lord  required  the  sacrifice  at  her  hand.  In 
a  letter  from  Simla,  she  says  to  Mr.  Scott,  "If  my 
health  should  remain  as  good  as  it  now  is,  and  there 
should  be  no  prospect  of  my  being  taken  off  rapidly, 
would  you  not  consent  to  send  the  children  and  my- 
self, and  you  remain  another  year  ?" 

After  a  due  consideration  of  the  subject,  she  re- 
solved to  make  the  sacrifice,  and  leaving  her  husband 
and  darling  boy  she  set  out  with  her  two  little  girls 
for  America.  Mr.  Scott  accompanied  her  part  of  the 
way  to  Calcutta,  and  when  separating  from  him  she 
said,  "  I  trust  we  shall  meet  again  here  below,  and  if 
not  it  will  all  be  ordered  aright  by  our  covenant- 
keeping  God."  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Freeman  accompanied 
her  as  far  as  Calcutta,  and  enjoyed  many  precious 
seasons  of  prayer  and  Christian  fellowship  with  her. 
Mr.  Freeman,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Scott,  says:  "Your 
dear  wife  never  appeared  so  lovely,  happy  and 
heavenly,  as  during  our  journey  together,  and  this 
very  heavenly  happiness  made  me  feel  sad  that  you 
are  not  with  her  to  enjoy  it.  Many  were  the  happy 
hours  we  spent  together,  and  I  only  regret  I  was  so 
unfit  for  such  hours.  Even  the  dear  little  children 
felt  a  tenderness  and   solemnity  quite  unusual,   and 


312  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

talked  with  their  dear  mother  of  God  and  heaven ; 
and  their  little  eyes  were  filled  with  tears  as  they  rose 
from  worshiping  God." 

In  due  time  they  reached  Calcutta,  and  all  things 
w^ere  ready  for  her  final  separation  from  her  mission- 
ary friends.  With  her  two  little  girls,  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Freeman's  little  daughter,  and  a  daughter  of  an  Eng- 
lish officer  under  her  charge,  and  herself  and  charge 
all  under  the  care  of  a  pious  friend,  they  went  on 
board  the  vessel  which  was  to  have  borne  them  across 
the  ocean;  and  as  Mrs.  Freeman  approached  to  take 
one  more  fond  embrace  of  her  little  girl,  and  bid  a 
long  farewell  to  her  feeble  protector,  knowing  a 
mother's  anxious  heart,  Mrs.  Scott  pressed  her  hand 
and  said,  "Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  forever,  for  in  the 
Lord  Jehovah  is  everlasting  strength."  "This," 
said  she,  "  has  ever  been  my  motto,  and  I  have  never 
trusted  in  vain."  Having  thus  parted  with  her 
friends,  she  set  out  for  her  native  land  by  way  of 
England.  For  the  first  week  she  enjoyed  her  usual 
health,  but  from  that  time  her  strength  began  to  fail, 
and  by  the  time  she  reached  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
she  was  so  far  reduced  that  she  gave  up  all  hope  of 
ever  returning  to  India.  At  the  Cape  she  took  fresh 
cold  which  brought  back  all  the  worst  symptoms  of 
her  disease.  On  the  loth  of  April,  1848,  she  was 
confined  to  her  cabin  and  rapidly  sank  till  the  i6th, 
when  she  breathed  her  last  at  the  age  of  thirty-six. 

A  few  kind  friends  whom  the  Lord  had  gathered 
around  her  did  all  that  could  be  done;  and  the 
same  calm,  trusting  spirit  which  had  marked  her  in 
life  sustained  her  in  death.     When  asked  if  she  was 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  313 

happy,  she  answered:  "Very  happy  in  Jesus." 
Pointing-  upward,  she  said:  "  He  is  there,"  and  lay- 
ing her  hand  on  her  breast,  she  said:  "  He  is  here." 
The  pious  officer  who  had  taken  her  under  his  pro- 
tection very  kindly  promised  her  that  if  she  should 
be  taken  away  he  would  conduct  her  little  charge  to 
her  friends  in  America — a  promise  which  he  did  not 
fail  to  make  good. — Rev.  IV.  H.  McAidcy. 


Mrs.  James  L.  Scott  (2). 

The  death  of  Mrs.  J.  L.  Scott,  which  occurred  on 
June  2,  1892,  at  Mussoorie,  a  mile  or  two  from  "Wood- 
stock" on  the  lower  range  of  the  Himalayas,  casts  a 
shadow  over  many  hearts  both  in  India  and  America. 
Mrs.  Scott  reached  India  with  her  husband  on  his  re- 
turn from  a  furlough  in  1853  and  settled  first  in  Agra, 
where  the  Board  was  then  seeking  to  establish  a 
permanent  station.  A  few  months  ago,  as  one  of  the 
Secretaries  of  the  Board  stood  with  her  and  some 
friends  on  Lai  Tiba — some  7500  feet  above  sea-level 
— surveying  the  snow-clad  mountains  a  hundred 
miles  and  more  away,  Mrs.  Scott  pointed  to  a  house 
on  the  hillside  across  a  ravine  where  .she  and  her 
children  with  another  missionary's  family  spent  many 
anxious  v/eeks  during  the  mutiny,  while  their  hus- 
bands were  shut  up  in  Agra  Fort.  The  agony  of 
those  wrecks  no  tongue  can  tell.  The  health  of  ]Mr. 
Scott  failing,  he  and  his  family  returned  to  the 
United  States  in  1867,  when  Mrs.  Scott  opened  a 
boarding  school  where  her  Mount  Holyoke  training 


314  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

stood  her  in  good  stead,  and  where  she  became  more 
thoroughly  equipped  for  the  work  to  which  she  gave 
the  later  years  of  her  life — the  headship  of  Wood- 
stock School.  With  this  work  in  view,  she  re- 
turned to  India  in  1877,  and  succeeded  by  the  bless- 
ing of  God  in  building  up  an  institution  second  to 
none  of  the  kind  in  the  Empire,  commatiding  the 
confidence  of  missionaries  of  every  denomination,  of 
European  residents  and  of  the  government.  The 
Rev.  Reese  Thackwell,  of  Dehra,  writes:  "Her 
tact  and  energy  and  unquestionable  ability  made  the 
school  what  it  is. " 

With  this  estimate  of  her  work  all  familiar  with 
the  facts  most  cordially  agree.  To  all  the  ordinary 
graces  of  a  well-cultured  mind  Mrs.  Scott  added 
superior  organizing  ability  and  rare  business  qualifi- 
cations. But  above  all  she  was  a  missionary,  and 
brought  to  the  discharge  of  all  her  duties  love  for  the 
souls  of  those  committed  to  her  care,  and  love  for 
India  for  whose  salvation  she  had  given  her  life. 

For  a  year  or  two  past  Mrs.  Scott  had  felt  that  the 
continuous  strain  and  the  increasing  infirmities  of 
advancing  years  required  her  to  relax  her  hold,  and 
to  seek  rest  and  change  in  the  home  land.  After 
much  patient  cind  anxious  search  a  successor  had 
been  appointed,  but  Mrs.  Scott  was  not  permitted  to 
welcome  her.  She  sleeps  beside  her  husband  in  the 
beautiful  little  cemetery  at  Dehra  under  the  shadows 
of  the  Himalayas.  Laid  to  rest  in  heathen  India, 
she  will  rise  from  the  dust  in  Christian  India. 
Blessed  Hope! — -  CJiurcJi  at  Home  and  Abroad,  Sep- 
tember, 1S92. 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  315 

''The  reaper  has  been  entering  many  missionary 
homes  and  has  gathered  Httle  children  like  buds  of 
spring,  but  Mrs.  Scott  is  taken  a  shock  of  corn  fully 
ripe." — VVomait's  Work  for  Woman,  August,  1892. 

Rev.   David  Scott. 

God  sometimes  appalls  his  church  by  sudden  dis- 
pensations which  shake  to  the  centre  our  weak  faith; 
and  were  we  not  sure  that  he  will  take  care  of  his 
own  honor,  and  vindicate  it  in  his  own  time,  we 
might  well  give  up  in  despair. 

It  is  no  new  thing  in  the  history  of  the  church  to 
find  men,  after  long  preparation,  and  with  peculiar 
adaptation  to  the  work,  called  to  lay  aside  their 
armor  at  the  very  moment  they  are  ready  to  enter  the 
battle. 

There  is  no  human  explanation  of  these  strange 
facts.  According  to  the  conclusions  of  reason,  such 
facts  are  altogether  evil.  No  light  shines  in  the 
darkness.  God,  by  his  own  act,  seems  to  have  given 
a  fatal  blow  to  his  own  cause.  But  Revelation  gives 
us  another  view  of  these  mysterious  providences, 
which,  while  failing  to  solve  the  problems,  yet  gives 
us  faith  to  believe  that  they  can  be  solved,  and  will 
be  solved,  in  the  future. 

No  part  of  the  church  has  been  more  severely 
smitten  in  this  way  than  the  foreign  field.  Lowrie 
and  Culbertson  and  Rankin  in  China,  and  those  mar- 
tyrs of  the  India  rebellion,  and  many  others  who  now 
shine  as  stars,  were  called  away  from  their  work  at 
the  most  critical  and  inopportune  time,  according  to 


3^6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

human  judgrnent.  And  the  same  thing-  will  happen 
again  and  again. 

One  great  lesson  that  God  intends  to  teach  is,  that 
the  world  is  not  to  be  subdued  by  many  nor  by  few, 
nor  by  human  power  or  wisdom,  even  when  put  in 
operation  by  his  church.  Gideon's  army  was  reduced 
to  a  minim.um  before  it  was  ready,  according  to  God's 
plan,  to  go  forth  to  conquer. 

These  afflictive  strokes  are  rebukes  to  the  church 
as  it  stands  and  counts  its  scores  of  missionaries 
among  the  millions  of  heathendom,  and  cries  out 
with  failing  faith,  ''What  are  these  among  so 
many  ?"  But  the  grand  results  of  missionary  labor 
will  not  be  witnessed  in  their  fullness  until  the  church 
comes  up  to  that  high  experience  of  faith  and  believes 
with  Joshua  that  ''one  man  of  you  shall  chase  a  thou- 
sand: for  the  Lord  your  God,  he  it  is  that  fighteth 
for  you,  as  he  hath  promised  you." 

But  another  lesson  which  this  event  is  intended  to 
teach,  and  one  more  cheering  to  the  church  and 
afflicted  friends,  is,  that  the  preparations  of  an  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  kind  made  by  God's  servants  in 
this  life  are  not  destroyed  by  death.  There  is  another 
world  and  another  sphere  of  labor,  where  all  the  toil- 
some preparation  for  active  service  here  finds  room 
for  indefinite  expansion  and  exercise.  We  misjudge 
the  divine  providence  when  we  consider  the  work  of 
one  of  God's  children  as  prematurely  brought  to  an 
end  by  death.  ' '  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in 
the  Lord  from  henceforth :  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that 
they  may  rest  from  their  labors;  and  their  works  do 
follow  them." 


OF  THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  317 

We  arc  not  permitted  to  look  into  that  realm  of 
ceaseless  activity  and  joy,  but  we  know  that  our 
brother  who  has  gone  from  us  will  find  ample  oppor- 
tunity to  use  the  power  that  he  acquired  here,  in  a  de- 
gree which  he  could  never  have  put  forth  in  this  life. 
Take  this,  then,  as  a  grand  consolation  in  the  midst  of 
this  mysterious  providence  which  so  sorely  tries  our 
faith  and  startles  the  church.  The  field  wliich  David 
Scott  entered  in  Persia,  and  which  he  was  permitted 
to  occupy  for  such  a  brief  period,  may  suffer  for  a 
time;  his  family  and  friends  may  be  heart-broken 
under  the  affliction;  but  oh,  the  grandeur  of  those 
immeasurable  fields  to  which  his  talents  and  his  ac- 
quirements and  his  labors  have  been  transferred! 
Let  us  endure  our  present  weight  of  sorrow,  seeing 
him  who  is  invisible,  and  let  us  listen  to  the  voice  of 
our  Master  as  he  softens  this  bereavement  by  saying 
to  each  one  of  us,  "What  I  do  thou  knowest  not 
now,  but  thou  shalt  know  hereafter. "  As  our  brother 
knows  now,  and  as  we  shall  know  if  we  are  saved. 

David  Scott,  Jr.,  was  the  son  of  David  and  Mary 
Baxter  Scott — worthy  members  of  the  Fifteenth 
Street  Presbyterian  Church.  David  became  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sabbath-school  in  1863  or  1864.  On  the 
9th  of  June,  1865,  he  made  a  profession  of  his  faith 
and  united  with  the  Fifteenth  Street  Church.  Soon 
after,  he  expressed  to  his  pastor  his  earnest  desire  to 
become  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  At  this  time  he 
was  a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Manhattan  Gas  Com- 
pany, receiving  a  salary  of  $900  a  year.  His  pastor 
at  first  discouraged  him  from  seeking  the  ministry,  on 
account  of  his  entire  want  of  education  and  because 


3l8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

he  was  at  an  age  which  would  render  it  difficult  for 
him  to  make  up  his  deficiencies.  Nothing  more  was 
said  of  the  matter  until  a  year  had  elapsed,  when 
David  again  approached  his  pastor,  stating  that  his 
mind  was  irrevocably  made  up  to  be  a  minister  if  it 
was  possible.  He  said  that  during  the  past  year  he 
had  been  attending  the  night  schools  at  Cooper 
Union,  and  had  made  great  advances  in  his  studies. 
His  pastor  could  no  longer  oppose  w^hat  seemed  to  be 
a  call  of  God.  He  was  immediately  sent  to  the  High 
School  at  Lawrenceville,  N.  J.,  and  through  the 
liberality  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Hamill,  D.D. ,  the 
principal  of  the  school,  his  expenses  were  merely 
nominal.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  was  prepared 
for  college.  Dr.  Hamill,  writing  to  his  pastor  at  this 
time,  says:  "  I  will  take  as  many  young  men  of  the 
same  kind,  on  the  same  terms,  as  you  choose  to  send 
me.      David  has  been  a  blessing  to  the  school." 

In  the  fall  of  1870  he  entered  the  Freshman  Class 
at  Princeton  College,  where  he  remained  four  years, 
being  graduated  with  high  honors,  and  taking  the  clas- 
sical scholarship  of  the  year.  This  involved  his  spend- 
ing a  year  in  classical  studies  either  in  this  country  or 
in  Europe.  Entering  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton  immediately  after  his  graduation,  he  re- 
mained a  year,  and  then  proceeded  to  Germany 
where  he  spent  the  next  year  at  the  University  of 
Leipsic,  according  to  the  terms  of  his  scholarship. 
Here,  while  pursuing  his  classical  studies,  he  gave  all 
his  spare  time  to  the  study  of  the  Oriental  languages, 
having  already  determined  to  give  his  life  to  foreign 
missionary  work  in  the  East. 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  3I9 

Returning  to  Princeton  in  1876,  he  was  appointed 
a  tutor  in  the  college,  prosecuting  at  the  same  time 
his  theological  studies  in  the  seminary.  Having 
finished  his  course  in  Princeton,  he  offered  himself 
to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  was  accepted 
and  appointed  to  the  mission  at  Teheran,  Persia, 
with  the  understanding  that,  while  engaging  in 
ordinary  missionary  work,  he  was  to  give  himself 
more  particularly  to  the  production  of  a  Christian 
literature.  In  a  letter  written  to  his  pastor  at  this 
time,  he  says:  "  It  has  been  a  subject  of  much  prayer 
w^ith  me  that  the  Board  would  be  guided  in  their  de- 
cision as  to  where  they  should  send  me.  I  felt  that  I 
could  not  decide  the  question  for  myself,  but  was 
willing  to  go  where  I  could  be  most  useful.  I  look, 
then,  upon  this  decision  of  the  Board  as  an  answer 
to  prayer."  Mr.  Scott  was  ordained  by  the  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York  on  the  24th  of  June,  1877,.  and, 
having  been  united  in  marriage  to  a  young  lady  of 
this  city,  he,  with  his  wife,  set  sail  for  his  far-off  field 
of  labor  in  September. 

After  a  most  arduous  journey,  made  more  difficult 
by  the  approaching  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey, 
he  arrived  at  Teheran  in  November  and  entered  at 
once  upon  the  study  of  the  Persian  and  the  Turkish 
languages,  acting  on  the  Sabbath  as  chaplain  to  the 
English  residents  at  the  capital.  In  the  spring  of 
1878,  his  wife,  having  given  birth  to  a  son,  was  at- 
tacked by  a  dangerous  and  most  painful  sickness, 
which  threatened  her  life  if  she  remained  in  Persia. 
By  the  advice  of  the  English  and  French  physicians 
in  the  city,  as  well  as  of  his  brethren  of  the  mission, 


320  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

he  determined  to  bring  his  suffering  wife  home,  and, 
after  a  winter's  journey  of  ahiiost  inconceivable  trial, 
he  arrived  safely  in  New  York  in  March.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  he  called  upon  his  pastor,  who  congratu- 
lated him  on  his  manifestly  robust  health.  But  God's 
ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  for  on  the  2d  of  April, 
1879,  instead  of  the  suffering  and  delicate  wife,  the 
strong  man  after  a  brief  illness  was  suddenly  called 
to  his  reward.  He  had  been  permitted  in  infinite 
mercy  to  bring  his  wife  and  child  from  among 
strangers  and  heathen,  and  deposit  them  safely  in  the 
bosom  of  sympathizing  friends  before  he  was  called 
to  his  higher  work. 

One  of  the  most  striking  traits  in  Mr.  Scott's  char- 
acter was  his  persevering  industry.  When  once  his 
mind  was  made  up  that  he  must  serve  his  Master  in 
the  ministry,  nothing  could  stand  in  his  way.  Re- 
linquishing a  position  with  a  respectable  salary,  with 
an  early  promise  of  increase,  he  entered  upon  his 
long  course  of  preparation,  relying  for  support  upon 
that  God  whose  service  he  had  espoused.  Without 
any  brilliancy  of  parts,  but  with  an  indomitable 
spirit,  he  mastered  all  the  subjects  which  he  under- 
took, and  came  out  of  the  college  and  seminary  a 
finished  scholar. 

Perhaps  this  trait  led  him  to  that  extreme  devotion 
to  his  work  which  in  a  measure  induced  his  early  death. 
From  the  time  that  he  entered  the  night  school  at 
Cooper  Union  to  the  hour  of  his  leaving  Persia,  he 
never  knew  what  relaxation  was;  and  his  vacations 
at  Princeton  were  spent  as  a  clerk  in  one  of  our  pub- 
lic institutions,  in  order  that  he  might  lighten  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  32I 

burden  of  those  who  were  responsible  for  his  sup- 
port. 

Mr.  Scott's  piety  was  unobtrusive,  but  deep  and 
growing.  His  one  great  object  in  life  was  to  devote 
all  his  acquirements  and  his  very  life,  if  necessary,  to 
the  advancement  of  his  Master's  kingdom  on  the 
earth.  This,  I  may  say,  was  the  master  passion  of 
his  life  from  his  very  boyhood.  I  think  that  he  had 
many  of  the  characteristics  of  his  Scotch  ancestors, 
and  I  believe  that  he  would  have  gone  to  the  stake, 
if  called  to  do  so,  as  quietly  as  he  went  to  his  books. 
Mr.  Scott  never  talked  much  about  his  feelings,  but 
a  great  deal  about  his  work.  The  simplicity  that 
was  in  Christ  Jesus  clarified  his  entire  life.  Through- 
out the  whole  of  his  college  career  he  was  a  bright 
example  to  his  fellow-students,  who  honored  him  be- 
cause he  was  so  humble,  so  consistent,  so  gentle,  so 
unassuming. 

Faithful,  pure,  modest,  earnest  David  Scott.  He 
has  gone  quickly  to  his  reward. 

Those  who  knew  him  best  were  looking  forward  to 
great  results  from  his  missionary  work,  but  God  has 
shattered  our  hopes  and  thwarted  our  plans,  teaching 
us  not  to  depend  on  human  power  or  human  wisdom. 
—Rev,  S.  D.  Alexander^  D.D. 

Mrs.    Emeline  M.   Seeley. 

Mrs.  Seeley,  wife  of  Rev.  A.  H.  Seeley,  was  born 
in  Charlton,  N.  Y.,  on  the  9th  of  November,  1821; 
her  maiden  name  was  Emeline  Marvin,  and  she  had 
the  inestimable  advantage  of   being  born  of   pious 


322  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

parents,  who  early  dedicated  her  to  the  Saviour. 
Little  is  known  of  her  childhood  and  j^outh,  but  she 
was  early  instructed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  taught  to 
feel  her  obligations  to  God,  both  by  precept  and  ex- 
ample. It  is  not  known  precisely  when  she  indulged 
a  hope  in  Christ;  it  is  supposed  that  she  made  a  pub- 
lic profession  of  religion  at  an  early  age.  From  the 
time  she  united  with  the  church,  she  was  engaged  in 
doing  good  as  she  had  opportunity,  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  Sabbath-school  and  female  prayer- 
meeting  connected  with  the  village  church. 

In  July,  1847,  with  her  husband  she  arrived  at 
Futtehgurh,  their  missionary  station  in  India.  Here 
for  nearly  six  years  she  lived  the  life  of  the  righteous. 
From  the  weakness  of  her  eyes,  a  naturally  delicate 
constitution,  the  cares  of  an  increasing  family  and 
other  causes,  she  was  not  permitted  to  engage  in 
much  active  work ;  but  still  she  was  exerting  a  most 
happy  influence  for  the  good  of  her  fellow-beings. 
This  influence  arising  out  of  the  harmonious  blend- 
ing of  the  Christian  graces,  as  manifested  in  her 
daily  walk,  though  silent  and  unostentatious,  was  not 
the  less  beneficial  and  powerful.  Her  heart  was  in 
the  work,  to  which  she  had  so  early  dedicated  her- 
self, and  for  whose  accomplishment  she  had  severed 
herself  from  the  society  of  friends  and  the  endear- 
ments of  home.  She  gave  to  it  her  prayers  and 
counsels,  and  always  manifested  great  reluctance  to 
leave  the  field,  even  when  the  state  of  her  husband's 
health  seemed  to  point  out  the  possibility  of  such  an 
event.  She  had,  only  a  few  days  before  her  death, 
expressed  to  one  of  her  missionary  sisters  the  strong 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSiONS.  323 

desire  she  had  to  live  and  die  amidst  the  scene  of  her 
labors.  The  writer  of  this  recalls  with  much  pleas- 
ure the  delight  she  manifested  on  her  return  a  few 
weeks  ago  from  a  visit  at  Yakiitganj,  where  nearly  a 
hundred  Hindus  were  assembled  to  hear  the  word  of 
God.  She  spoke  of  the  interesting  services  with  so 
much  feeling,  and  seemed  so  much  encouraged  with 
the  manner  in  which  the  word  was  received,  as  to 
show  how  much  her  heart  was  interested  in  the  suc- 
cess of  our  operations  for  establishing  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom  here  in  India. 

Her  last  illness  was  sudden  and  short,  but  it  found 
her  prepared  for  death.  It  was  a  solemn  moment,  and 
amidst  weeping  and  sorrow  we  rose  from  our  knees, 
to  witness  her  departure  to  a  better  and  happier 
world.  Passages  of  Scripture  and  portions  of  hymns 
were  repeated  to  her,  which  seemed  to  give  her  much 
enjoyment.  Once  she  said,  with  deep  emphasis, 
^' Jesus  died  for  me  !''  And  then  again,  ''  Oh,  these 
wicked  hearts!"  and  still  more  frequently  would  she 
exclaim,  "Come,  Lord  Jesus!  Come,  Lord  Jesus!" 
She  sent  messages  to  her  dear  friends  at  home,  and 
particularly  to  a  beloved  brother,  towards  whom  her 
heart  seemed  to  yearn  much.  She  had  in  a  few 
short  hours  all  the  bitterness  of  parting  with  her 
loved  ones,  and  to  realize  the  momentous  truth  that 
she  was  to  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ, 
and  yet  she  had  no  fears.  Under  such  circumstances, 
we  were  rejoiced  to  see  her  mind  so  calm,  and  her 
faith  so  triumphant.  Every  thing  was  done  that 
could  be  done  for  her  comfort,  and  the  doctor  was  in 
constant  attendance  on  her  to  the  moment  of  her 


324  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

departure,  but  all  was  without  avail.  The  hand  of 
death  was  upon  her,  and  a  little  after  eight  o'clock 
P.M.,  on  the  9th  of  May,  1853,  she  breathed  her  last, 
and  passed  from  earth  to  her  Saviour's  arms.  On 
Sunday  evening,  the  loth,  her  remains  were  carried 
to  our  little  church,  and  I  preached  to  a  large  and 
sorrowing  congregation,  from  the  sweet  and  consol- 
ing words,  '' Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the 
Lord. "  From  the  church  we  carried  her  to  our  small 
burial  ground,  now  nearly  half  filled  with  the  graves 
of  our  native  Christians  and  our  own  sweet  little 
ones.  She  is  the  first  of  our  little  band  who  has  been 
honored  with  a  burial  there.  How  pleasant  is  the 
thought  that  she  will  rise  at  the  resurrection,  sur- 
rounded by  those  she  loved,  and  for  whose  good  she 
left  her  native  land,  and  endured  the  bitter  pang  of 
parting  with  friends  and  relatives. 

We  have  lost  the  society  of  a  valued  friend  and 
laborer.  For  nearly  six  years  we  were  privileged  to 
enjoy  her  presence,  and  be  cheered  by  her  counsels 
and  prayers.  But  we  sorrow  not  as  those  without 
hope.  ''  If  ye  loved  me,"  said  Jesus  to  his  despond- 
ing disciples,  "ye  would  rejoice,  because  I  said,  I  go 
unto  the  Father;"  so  should  we  rejoice  when  those 
whom  Jesus  loves  are  called  away  from  earth,  for 
they  go  unto  the  Father.  They  are  gone,  but  not 
lost — gone  to  a  better  and  happier  world,  where 
Jesus  reigns,  and  sorrow  never  enters. 

**She  is  not  dead,  the  child  of  our  affection, 
But  gone  unto  that  school 
Where  she  no  longer  needs  our  poor  protection, 
And  Christ  himself  doth  rule. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  325 

*  In  that  great  cloister's  stillness  and  seclusion, 

By  guardian  angels  led, 
Safe  from  temptation,  safe  from  sin's  pollution, 
She  lives,  whom  we  call  dead. 

"We will  be  patient,  and  assuage  the  feeling 
We  may  not  wholly  stay, 
By  silence  sanctifying,  not  concealing, 
The  grief  that  must  have  way." 

—Rev.  J,  J.   Walsh. 


Miss  Sara  C.   Seward,   M.D. 

Dr.  Seward  was  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
the  daughter  of  the  late  George  W.  Seward,  youngest 
brother  of  the  distinguished  Secretary  of  State, 
William  H.  Seward.  She  studied  medicine  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  in  187 1  went  to  Allahabad,  India,  as  a 
medical  missionary  under  the  Woman's  Union  Mis- 
sionary Society  of  this  country.  In  1873,  she  trans- 
ferred her  connection  to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  but  without  change 
of  field.  Through  the  divine  blessing  on  her  skill 
and  energy,  and  in  the  midst  of  many  discourage- 
ments, a  successful  dispensary  work  was  built  up, 
which  in  August  last  v/as  transferred  to  a  plain  but 
commodious  structure  erected  for  the  purpose  on  a 
well-chosen  site  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  While 
enthusiastic  in  her  profession,  Dr.  Seward  made  the 
missionary  idea  prominent  in  her  medical  work. 
Writing  some  time  before  her  death  she  said:  "It 
has  always  been  the  custom  each  morning  on  assem- 
bling to  read  and  talk  with  the  women,  using  either 


326  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  Bible  or  some  simple  book,  striving  to  impart 
truth  in  a  plain,  direct  way."  The  spiritual  results 
of  that  useful  life  so  suddenly  cut  off,  eternity  alone 
will  reveal.  Dr.  Seward  died  of  cholera  at  Allahabad, 
June  12,  1 89 1.  —  TJie  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad, 
August,  189 1. 

Rev.   Samuel  M.   Sharpe. 

Mr.  Sharpe  was  a  native  of  Steubenville,  O.,  and  a 
graduate  of  Jefferson  College  and  of  the  Allegheny 
Theological  Seminary.  Accompanied  by  his  wife,  a 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Jamieson,  D.D.,  he  went 
to  the  United  States  of  Colombia  as  a  missionary  in 
1858.  He  had  made  excellent  progress  in  learning 
the  Spanish  language,  and  had  just  preached  his  first 
extempore  sermon  in  it  w4th  much  acceptance,  when 
he  was  taken  with  a  fever,  which  in  a  few  days  ended 
a  life  of  excellent  promise,  on  the  30th  of  October, 
i860.  The  Rev.  W.  E.  McLaren,  his  colleague, 
wrote  of  his  last  days  as  follows: 

"  Mourning,  as  we  did,  over  the  physical  pains  of 
his  dying  bed,  we  could  not  but  rejoice  to  witness  the 
triumph  of  faith  in  his  last  hours.  When  he  began 
to  realize  that  there  was  but  little  hope  of  his  re- 
covery, with  a  radiant  face,  he  said,  '  I  know  whom 
I  have  believed,  and  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  imto  him  against 
that  day.'  During  the  most  of  his  sickness  his  mind 
wandered,  but  even  then  prayer  was  the  language  of 
his  lips.  In  his  more  lucid  moments  he  gave  pre- 
cious evidence  that  he,  like  the  Psalmist,  feared  no 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  327 

evil;  for  the  Lord  was  with  him:  his  rod  and  his 
staff  they  comforted  him.  The  day  before  his  death 
he  called  all  the  household  to  his  bedside,  bidding 
farewell,  in  a  most  affectionate  manner,  to  his  wife, 
his  friends  and  the  servants.  For  each  one  he  had  a 
word  of  Christian  exhortation  or  warning.  A  num- 
ber of  young  men,  who  have  been  under  religious 
instruction  in  connection  with  the  mission,  were 
present  at  this  time,  and  seemed  deeply  impressed  as 
their  dying  instructor  proclaimed  to  them,  for  the 
last  time,  the  precious  truths  of  the  gospel.  His  last 
words  to  them  were,  '  Soi  mui  feliz '  (I  am  very 
happy). 

"How  inscrutable  is  the  providence  which  has 
taken  our  brother  from  us  just  at  this  time !  We  can 
only  say,  *It  is  the  Lord:  let  him  do  what  seemeth 
him  good.'  " — J.  C.  L. 

Rev.   James  M.    Shaw. 

Mr.  Shaw  died  at  Tungchow,  China,  June  ii,  1876, 
He  sailed  from  San  Francisco,  September  i,  1874,  and 
gave  promise  of  being  an  earnest  and  successful  mis- 
sionary. Li  March  last  (1876)  he  set  out  with  others 
on  a  missionary  tour,  but  when  some  200  miles  from 
home  he  was  obliged  to  return  on  account  of  sickness^ 
from  which  he  never  recovered.  Physicians  could 
give  him  no  relief.  His  sufferings  were  great,  but  in 
all  he  felt  the  gracious  presence  of  his  Saviour,  and 
had  an  abiding  and  joyful  trust  in  him.  He  leaves  a 
wife  and  little  one  to  mourn  his  loss.  He  was  the 
son  of  Rev.  James  Shaw,    D.D.,  of  Ohio,  who  died 


328  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

since  his  son  sailed  for  his  work  in  China. — Foreign 
Missionary^  September,  1876. 


Rev.   Candaur  J.    Silliman. 

Mr.  Silliman,  a  native  of  Alabama  and  a  graduate 
of  Columbia,  S.  C. ,  Theological  Seminary,  spent  a 
few  months  among  the  Choctaws  as  a  missionary  in 
1856.  His  health  was  feeble,  and  proving  to  be  in- 
adequate to  the  work  he  started  on  his  return  to  his 
friends  at  home,  but  was  taken  to  his  rest  on  the 
journey.  The  committee  expressed  their  sorrow  "  on 
account  of  the  early  removal  of  one  who  promised  to 
be  so  useful  in  the  sphere  of  duty  assigned  to  him  by 
Providence." — Annual  Report^  1857. 


Rev.   Ashbel  G.   Simonton. 

Mr.  Simonton  was  born  in  West  Hanover,  Pa., 
January  20,  1833.  He  was  the  son  of  a  respected 
physician  of  that  place,  and  a  nephew  of  the  Rev. 
William  D.  Snodgrass,  D.D.  His  early  studies  were 
pursued  in  his  native  town  and  afterwards  in  Harris- 
burg,  to  which  place  his  family  removed  after  his 
father's  death  in  1846.  He  w^as  graduated  at  Prince- 
ton College  in  1852;  and  after  spending  two  years  as 
a  teacher  in  Mississippi,  he  entered  the  Theological 
Seminary,  at  Princeton,  in  1855.  During  the  first 
session,  he  was  led  by  a  sermon  of  the  Rev.  Charles 
Hodge,  D.D.,  to  consider  the  subject  of  foreign 
missions.     "  I  then  resolved,"  he  wrote,  "to  examine 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  329 

the  question  seriously  and  prayerfully,  and  to  suffer 
nothing  to  interfere  with  its  decision."  As  the  re- 
sult of  this  examination,  his  purpose  was  formed  to 
devote  his  life  to  the  service  of  Christ  amongst  the 
unevangelized,  a  purpose  in  which  he  never  wavered. 
In  his  application  for  an  appointment  as  a  missionary 
he  expressed  his  Vv^illingness  to  go  to  any  field  of 
labor,  though  his  thoughts  had  been  somewhat 
specially  turned  to  Brazil.  The  Executive  Committee 
had  been  for  some  time  considering  the  subject  of 
forming  a  mission  in  that  country,  and  they  were 
glad  to  appoint  Mr.  Simon  ton  as  the  first  missionary. 
The  work  contemplated,  in  a  Roman  Catholic  coun- 
try, where  public  services  of  Protestant  w^orship  for 
the  benefit  of  the  natives  had  as  yet  been  conducted 
only  in  a  very  limited  way,  was  regarded  as  one  of 
peculiar  delicacy,  and  also  as  one  of  no  little  diffi- 
culty; maturity  of  character,  superior  talents  and 
scholarship,  good  address,  and  complete  devotedness 
of  heart  and  life  to  the  Saviour  and  his  cause,  were 
indispensable  qualifications  in  the  pioneer  of  the  mis- 
sion; and  these  were  happily  combined  in  Mr. 
Simonton. 

Arriving  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  August,  1859,  he  first 
engaged  in  perfecting  his  acquaintance  with  the 
Portuguese  language,  in  the  meantime  conducting 
religious  services  in  English  for  the  benefit  of  our 
cotmtrymen  and  others  resident  in  that  city.  These 
services  were  highly  valued,  for  Mr.  Simonton's  ser- 
mons were  of  marked  ability  and  deep  interest;  but 
he  turned  from  engagements  of  this  kind  to  his  main 
work,    that   of    making   the   gospel   known    to    the 


330  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Brazilians.  He  soon  became  an  effective  preacher  in 
their  language,  and  his  ministry  was  remarkably 
blest  in  the  conversion  of  souls.  A  church  was  or- 
ganized in  Rio  de  Janeiro  in  1862,  and  additions  were 
made  to  its  communion  at  almost  every  time  of  ad- 
ministering the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  in 
nearly  all  cases,  these  converts  had  been  previously 
connected  with  the  corrupt  church  of  Rome  or  under 
its  influence.  Besides  his  work  in  the  pulpit,  he  em- 
ployed the  press  as  an  important  auxiliary.  He  trans- 
lated the  Shorter  Catechism  and  other  works  into 
Portuguese,  a  language  peculiarly  destitute  of 
evangelical  reading.  An  expository  work  from  his 
pen,  on  a  part  of  the  Scriptures,  was  in  hand,  and  it 
is  hoped  that  it  will  be  found  ready  for  publication. 
A  monthly  journal,  the  luiprcnsa  Evangelica,  was 
published  by  him  and  sustained  chiefly  by  his  articles, 
which  were  often  of  rare  value,  and  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  readers  amongst  nearly  all  the  edu- 
cated classes  of  the  country.  His  attention  was 
directed,  moreover,  and  with  special  interest,  to  the 
training  of  native  young  men  of  promise  for  the  work 
of  evangelization;  three  of  these  young  men  were 
under  his  instruction  and  that  of  the  other  missiona- 
ries. He  had  been  joined  in  his  missionary  work  by 
several  colleagues,  with  whom  his  relations  were 
most  pleasant,  and  who  were  accustomed  to  look  to 
him  as  their  leader,  not  merely  because  he  had  been 
longest  in  the  country,  but  also  on  account  of  his  ex- 
cellent qualifications  for  usefulness  in  their  common 
work. 

During  a  visit  to  this  country  in   1862-3,  he  was 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  33I 

married  to  Miss  Helen  Murdock.  She  was  endowed 
with  such  gifts  and  grace  as  secured  for  her  the 
warmest  esteem  of  Christian  friends,  and  gave  the 
promise  of  no  ordinary  degree  of  useful  influence  in 
the  service  of  Christ.  Her  early  removal  was  de- 
plored by  many,  and  was  felt  by  her  husband  to  be 
the  greatest  loss;  yet  it  was  no  doubt  a  part  of  his 
preparation  for  serving  the  Lord  in  a  higher  degree, 
both  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

Mr.  Simonton's  general  health  was  uniformly  good, 
but  he  probably  overtasked  his  strength  in  his  various 
labors,  and  when  he  was  taken  with  a  fever  in 
November,  1867,  his  constitution  did  not  recover 
from  the  attack.  He  had  gone  to  Sao  Paulo,  on  a 
visit  to  his  colleague  and  brother-in-law,  the  Rev. 
A.  L.  Blackford,  in  the  hope  of  becoming  free 
from  symptoms  of  disease;  and  there  he  was  minis- 
tered to  with  the  utmost  affection,  and  enjoyed  also 
the  best  medical  aid;  but  his  illness  could  not  be 
arrested,  and  he  departed  this  life  December  9, 
1867,  supported  to  the  last  by  a  good  hope  through 
grace. 

Our  departed  brother  occupied  a  large  place  in  the 
affections  of  his  brethren,  and  in  the  respect  of  the 
American  residents  in  Brazil.  One  of  his  colleagues 
thus  referred  to  him:  "  He  was  looked  upon  by  all 
the  members  of  the  mission  as  our  leader  and  chief 
stay,  as  he  had  been  our  pioneer.  We  took  no  im- 
portant step,  save  from  absolute  necessity,  without 
first  hearing  his  counsels.  The  most  talented,  most 
learned,  and  best  informed  of  our  members;  master 
of  the  language,  and  possessing  in  an  unusual  degree 


332  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

tact  and  prudence  for  planning-  and  executing,  we 
have  no  one  left  to  fill  his  place." 

The  esteem  of  his  countrymen  and  of  many 
Brazilians  found  expression,  when  the  sad  news  of 
his  death  was  received  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  in  resolu- 
tions drawn  up  by  the  United  States  Consul  and 
adopted  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  Consulate : 

"  Whereas,  It  hath  pleased  divine  Providence  to 
remove  from  us  by  death  our  highly  esteemed  and 
beloved  friend.  Rev.  A.  G.  Simonton,  in  the  midst  of 
his  usefulness  and  in  the  full  vigor  of  early  manhood; 
therefore, 

'■^Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  lamented 
friend,  we  feel,  each  of  us,  that  we  have  experienced 
a  great  personal  bereavement;  and  we  desire  to 
gather  about  his  grave  with  those  who  were  united  to 
him  by  ties  of  kindred  blood,  and  mingle  our  tears 
with  theirs. 

' '  Resolved,  That  having  been  intimately  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Simonton  for  several  years  past,  we  found 
in  him  a  man  of  rare  intellectual  and  moral  endow- 
ments; a  Christian,  whose  sense  of  duty  for  himself 
was  joined  with  a  large  spirit  of  tolerance  toward 
others — a  moralist,  whose  irreproachable  purity  of 
life  found  nothing  uncongenial  in  innocent  enjoy- 
ment— a  gentleman  whose  manliness  was  kind,  whose 
frankness  was  delicate,  and  whose  o^^tspoken  convic- 
tions never  gave  offense,  and  were  received  with  re- 
spect, if  they  were  not  adopted.  As  a  neighbor,  he 
took  the  most  friendly  interest  in  whatever  concerned 
the  welfare  of  others,  and  long  shall  we  miss  his 
cheerful  greeting  at  our  places  of  business,  and  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  333 

added  charm  which  his  genial  presence  never  failed 
to  lend  to  the  domestic  circle.  He  was  gentle  and 
easy  to  be  entreated,  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits, 
without  partiality,  without  hypocrisy. 

' '  Resolved^  That  we  respectfully  tender  our  sincere 
sympathy  to  the  afflicted  relatives  of  the  deceased  in 
this  country  and  in  the  United  States,  and  to  his  be- 
reaved associates  in  this  empire ;  and  we  promise  to 
unite  with  them  in  keeping  alive  in  our  hearts  the 
memory  of  our  excellent  friend,  and  in  humbly  en- 
deavoring to  imitate  the  virtues  which  adorned  his 
character." 

The  early  removal  of  such  a  laborer  is  one  of  the 
mysteries  of  divine  Providence.  It  is  indeed  no  un- 
usual event;  the  missionary  records  of  our  church 
bear  witness  to  similar  examples  in  other  countries. 
Doubtless,  there  are  wise  and  gracious  reasons  for 
these  bereavements.  If  they  lead  the  church  to  feel 
more  deeply  its  dependence  on  the  blessing  of  God  in 
the  work  of  missions,  and  if  they  lead  the  associates 
of  our  departed  friends  to  engage  with  renewed  earn- 
estness, faith  and  hope  in  the  work  of  the  Lord,  these 
afflicting  events  will  not  have  been  in  vain ;  as  for  the 
departed,  they  are  with  the  Saviour,  "which  is  far 
better."—/.  C.  Z. 

Mrs.   Simonton. 

"  Died,  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil,  June  27,  1864, 
after  a  very  brief  illness,  Helen  (Murdoch)  Simonton, 
wife  of  the  Rev.  A.  G.  Simonton."  Mrs.  Simonton 
had  not  been  quite  one  year  in  the  missionary  field, 


334  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

for  the  service  of  which  she  seemed  to  have  eminent 
qualifications.  Born  of  Christian  parents,  who  dedi- 
cated her  to  God  in  baptism,  she  gave  early  indica- 
tions of  great  sweetness  of  disposition  and  tenderness 
of  conscience,  with  decided  talent.  Enjoying  the 
best  opportunities  of  education,  her  character  was 
very  favorably  developed  under  judicious  culture. 
Soon  after  leaving  school  she  made  a  public  pro- 
fession of  religion  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Baltimore,  Md.  ;  and  from  that  time  became  a  de- 
cided and  consistent  Christian,  taking  an  active  part 
in  every  means  of  getting  and  doing  good,  in  the 
Sabbath-schools,  tract  visitation,  and  every  work  and 
labor  of  love  opened  to  Christians  in  that  city. 

In  May,  1863,  she  was  married  to  Mr.  Simonton, 
who  had  been  recalled  to  this  country  by  the  illness 
of  an  aged  parent.  With  him  she  left  the  endear- 
ments of  her  happy  home,  to  serve  her  beloved  Mas- 
ter as  a  missionary  in  Brazil.  Having  an  excellent, 
well- cultivated  mind,  a  sound  judgment,  a  very 
tender,  loving  heart,  with  simple  faith,  deep  humility 
and  unselfish  zeal,  she  was  eminently  adapted  to  be 
an  invaluable  help-meet  in  the  missionary  field.  Her 
extreme  modesty  made  her  seem  at  first  retiring  and 
too  diffident;  yet  it  lent  a  delicate  refinement  to  her 
mxanners,  and  gave  her  unusual  facility  in  winning 
the  confidence  and  affection  of  all  with  whom  she  had 
intercourse. 

Having  made  rapid  progress  in  the  language  for 
which  her  previous  training  had  prepared  her,  she 
was  becoming  qualified  for  great  usefulness  in  a  most 
inviting  field  when  she  was  called  suddenly  away, 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  335 

leaving  an  infant  daughter.  The  summons,  however, 
found  her  not  unprepared.  She  calmly  said,  "  I  am 
ready  to  go;  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my  spirit."  Such 
removals  may  seem  to  us  a  dark  mystery,  but  God's 
ways  are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  his  thoughts  as  our 
thoughts.  Having  accepted  that  unreserved  conse- 
cration as  she  laid  herself  on  the  altar  of  missionary 
service,  her  Saviour  was  pleased  to  say,  "Come,  ye 
blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you;"  and  the  missionary  field  became  the  step- 
ping stone  to  the  higher  employments  and  felicities 
of  the  heavenly  service.  —  TJic  Presbyterian. 

Rev.   George  W.    Simpson. 

There  are  few  chapters  in  the  book  of  divine  Provi- 
dence in  which  mystery  is  not  somewhere  written. 
God's  ways  are  in  the  seas,  his  paths  in  the  great 
waters,  and  his  footsteps  are  not  known.  These 
truths  are  brought  forcibly  to  our  minds  by  the 
startling  intelligence  which  has  lately  reached  us  of 
the  sudden  and  tragic  death  of  two  of  our  beloved 
missionaries  to  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  the  Rev. 
George  W.  Simpson  and  his  youthful  wife.  Whilst 
making  a  short  sail  for  the  benefit  of  their  health,  in 
a  British  brig,  the  vessel  was  suddenly  overturned  by 
one  of  those  violent  tornadoes  which  so  fearfully  pre- 
vail in  southern  latitudes.  Our  beloved  friends, 
together  with  all  others  on  board  the  ill-fated  vessel, 
a  Krooman  only  excepted,  found  a  winding-sheet  in 
the  waves,  and  sunk  to  rise  no  more  till  the  sea  shall 
give  up  its  dead. 


336  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Mr.  Simpson  was  the  son  of  pious  parents,  who 
consecrated  him  in  his  infancy  to  the  service  of  his 
Saviour.  His  mother  was  truly  an  "  Israehte  in- 
deed," a  woman  whose  praises  dwelt  on  the  lips  of 
many  of  God's  children,  and  who  ^'did  what  she 
could  "  for  the  glory  of  God.  The  mantle  of  the 
parents  fell  upon  the  child.  In  early  life  he  learned 
to  cherish  the  deepest  reverence  for  our  holy  religion, 
and  ere  youth  had  given  place  to  manhood,  he  was 
found  among  the  ranks  of  the  open  and  active  fol- 
lowers of  the  Lamb.  He  engaged  for  a  season  in 
teaching,  that  he  might  thereby  acquire  the  means  of 
prosecuting  his  studies  preparatory  to  entering  on  the 
work  of  the  ministry.  He  passed  through  his  col- 
legiate course  in  Easton  College,  and  shortly  after  its 
completion  he  entered  the  seminary  at  Princeton. 
There  it  was  that  his  mind  became  deeply  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  missions.  It  was  under  the  train- 
ing of  those  venerated  men  who  have  so  long  taught 
in  that  school  of  the  prophets,  that  the  claims  of  the 
heathen  came  up  vividly  before  his  mind.  He  felt 
indeed  that  "  the  field  was  the  world,"  and  the  ques- 
tion pressed  itself  on  his  heart  whether  it  might  not 
be  his  duty  to  labor  in  some  of  its  far-off  moral 
wastes.  And  the  more  he  pondered  on  the  subject, 
the  more  fully  did  the  conviction  fasten  itself  upon 
him  that  he  was  called  of  God  to  tell  the  untaught 
heathen  the  way  of  life.  It  is  a  sacrifice  which  none 
can  fully  understand  but  those  who  have  made  it,  to 
break  away  from  kindred,  friends  and  native  land, 
and  live  and  die  among  a  people  who,  as  a  mass,  are 
strangers  to  God,  and  whose  every  taste  and  sym- 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  337 

pathy  is  foreign  to  your  own.  But  our  brother  re- 
solved to  make  it,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good 
of  souls.  He  might  have  labored  in  God's  vineyard 
at  home  with  great  acceptance,  and  have  filled  one  of 
our  best  pulpits,  but  *'he  conferred  not  with  flesh 
and  blood. "  He  sought  not  '*  the  praise  of  men,  but 
of  God."  He  wished  to  do  his  duty,  whatever  of 
ease  and  worldly  comfort  the  performance  might 
cost  him.  The  task  which  lay  heaviest  upon  him, 
preparatory  to  his  great  undertaking,  was  to  com- 
municate his  views  to  his  mother,  and  gain  her  free 
consent  to  a  final  separation.  He  was  the  Benjamin 
of  his  family,  and  his  parents'  idol  so  far  as  they  had 
an  idol  upon  earth.  He  feared  therefore  to  unfold 
to  them  the  working  of  his  mind.  He  did  it  first  by 
letter,  and  afterwards  unbosomed  his  every  thought 
and  feeling  on  the  subject.  With  tears  he  told  his 
mother  that  without  her  consent  he  could  not  enter 
on  his  work.  She  gave  it — gave  it,  though  it  cost 
her  sleepless  nights  and  bitter  tears.  Who  was  she, 
she  felt,  that  she  should  lift  up  her  voice  or  hand 
against  the  bidding  of  the  Lord  ? 

When  all  matters  were  arranged  for  his  final  de- 
parture, and  he  only  awaited  the  sailing  of  the  vessel 
to  carry  him  off  to  his  heathen  home,  Mr.  Simpson 
spent  the  season  that  was  left  him  in  his  native  land 
in  visiting  the  churches  and  kindling  up  in  the  hearts 
of  the  people  a  deeper  interest  in  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions. -  It  was  surprising  to  all  who  heard  him,  to  ob- 
serve the  amount  of  knowledge  he  had  acquired 
respecting  the  religion,  and  customs,  and  peculiarities 
of  the  African  people,  among  whom  he  was  destined 


338  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

to  labor.  He  spake  like  a  missionary  who  had  been 
long  in  the  field,  rather  than  as  one  who  was  just 
entering"  on  his  work. 

I  need  not  speak  of  their  labors  in  Africa.  They 
are  before  the  church,  spread  out  on  the  pages  of  the 
Record.  Their  work  is  done,  and  they  "  are  not,  for 
God  took  them."  They  have  performed  the  duty 
assigned  them  in  the  King's  service,  and  have  been 
called  away  seemingly  before  their  time,  "to  be 
crowned  in  the  King's  presence. " — Rev.  W.  W.  Latta., 
1851. 

Mrs.   Simpson. 

Mrs.  Simpson,  wife  of  the  Rev.  George  W.  Simp- 
son, was  the  child  of  pious  parents,  her  father  an 
elder  in  the  church  of  Fagg's  Manor,  Pa.  Her  early 
training  was  of  a  carefully  religious  character.  The 
Bible  and  the  Catechism  were  her  earliest  books  of 
study.  Thence  she  learned  those  great  principles 
which  laid  the  foundation  for  that  maturity  of  Chris- 
tian character  to  which  she  afterwards  attained. 
Amiable  and  pleasant  in  private  life,  a  regular  and 
interested  attendant  on  public  worship,  yet  delaying 
to  make  a  profession  of  her  faith  in  Christ,  she  ex- 
cited much  anxiety  for  her  spiritual  welfare ;  but  on 
the  12th  of  April,  1844,  she  was  admitted  to  the  com- 
munion of  the  church.  Thenceforward  she  aimed 
to  be  wholly  a  Christian.  The  Bible  class  and  the 
Sabbath-school  were  both  highly  prized  by  her;  the 
one  affording  herself  instruction,  the  other  a  field  of 
usefulness  to  others. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  339 

About  this  time  the  subject  of  missions  cng-aged 
her  attention,  and  she  felt  a  desire  to  labor  among 
the  heathen,  and  especially  in  Africa.  vShe  lost  much 
of  her  relish  for  ordinary  duties  and  labors,  and  though 
always  doing  cheerfully  and  industriously  what  was 
necessary,  often  said  in  playfulness,  "  I  would  rather 
be  teaching  the  negroes  in  Africa." 

When  the  proposal  was  made  to  her  to  go  to  Africa, 
she  felt  it  to  be  an  opening  in  the  providence  of  God 
to  gratify  a  long-cherished  desire,  and  took  the  sub- 
ject into  very  serious  and  prayerful  consideration. 
She  did  not  arrive  at  a  final  conclusion  without  many 
anxieties,  misgivings  and  fears.  Her  wide  circle  of 
friends  were  nearly  all  opposed  to  her  going,  regard- 
ing missions  to  Africa  by  white  people  as  a  forlorn 
hope.  Her  parents,  too,  withheld  a  consent,  without 
which  she  felt  that  she  could  not  go.  In  her  es- 
timation filial  duty  required  obedience  even  in  this 
matter.  When,  however,  she  obtained  what  she 
desired  in  this  respect,  she  cheerfully  consented  to 
go,  and  immediately  began  to  prepare  for  her  de- 
parture. 

She  went  not  rashly.  She  counted  the  cost,  and 
felt  that  if  the  Lord  should  call  for  her  death  in  that 
field  she  was  willing  to  meet  it.  The  struggle  be- 
tween duty  and  affection  was  severe  and  constant; 
and  yet  there  was  no  disposition  to  withdraw  the 
pledge  she  had  given  to  labor  for  the  Saviour  in  Africa. 
She  looked  forward  to  the  time  of  their  embarkation 
with  a  calmness  which  astonished  all  who  knew  her. 

The  parting  scene  was  mingled  with  tears  and 
smiles,  but  borne  by  her  with  a  grace  and  sweetness 


340  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

of  character  which  greatly  alleviated  the  sorrow  felt 
by  her  family  and  friends  in  bidding  her  adieu. 

Her  own  feelings  are  well  expressed  in  a  letter  re- 
ceived on  the  eve  of  her  sailing,  being  sent  back  by 
the  pilot.  Speaking  of  the  missionary  meeting  in 
Dr.  Phillips'  church,  she  says,  "They  sang  the  hymn 
in  which  is  '  Yet  with  determined  courage  go,'  "  and 
then  adds,  "These  lines  have  been  running  in  my 
head  all  morning,  and  I  heard  Mrs.  L.  hum  them 
once  or  twice.  Oh,  must  I  see  you  no  more?  Have 
I  parted  from  you  all  forever  on  earth?  I  cannot  bear 
the  thought.  But  I  shall  meet  you  often  at  the  throne 
of  grace.  I  feel  that  you  will  pray  for  me.  Pray 
that  I  may  not  be  suffered  to  bring  reproach  on  this 
blessed  cause.  And  yet  I  fear  you  will  forget  me. 
But  you  won't  forget  our  mission..  Though  zve  all  be 
sivallozvcd  in  the  dccp^  don't  forget  to  pray  for  Africa. 
I  love  you  all  more  than  ever;  each  one  comes  up  to 
mind  separately;  and  my  heart  bleeds  to  leave  you. 
But  I  go  willingly;  I  trust  the  love  of  Christ — the 
boat  is  leaving."  While  on  her  voyage  she  wrote  to 
her  mother,  "  I  could  be  quite  happy  sometimes, 
could  I  feel  certain  you  are.  I  wish,  mother,  you 
had  told  me  you  felt  very  willing  to  have  me  come. 
You  are  satisfied  now,  doubtless.  I  wish  you  could 
feel  it  a  privilege  to  be  thus  permitted  to  give  a 
daughter  to  so  glorious  a  work." 

Her  last  letter  to  her  mother  was  full  of  considera- 
tions tending  to  comfort  and  strengthen  her,  and  as 
it  were,  prepare  her  for  the  trial  awaiting  her  in  the 
sudden  loss  of  her  children  in  Africa.  "  I  trust,  dear 
mother,   you  do  not  feel  unduly  anxious  about  us. 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  34I 

Earth  is  pleasant,  oh !  how  pleasant ;  still  we  cannot 
enjoy  the  happiness  here,  which  in  heavenly  mansions 
awaits  those  who  love  God.  We  know  this,  although 
we  cannot  understand  it.  Then  why  are  we  loth  to 
make  so  blessed  an  exchange,  or  to  have  our  beloved 
ones  make  it  ?  You  must  not  be  anxious  for  my 
safety.  We  have  your  God  in  Africa.  His  care  is  as 
constant  here  as  in  Pennsylvania.  The  death  of 
Christ  is  as  meritorious  here,  and  the  Holy  Spirit's 
influence  as  free  and  as  powerful;  the  Christian's 
hope  as  firm,  and  I  can  humbly  say,  *  I  know  that  my 
Redeemer  liveth. '  When  in  a  fever  lately,  I  felt  it 
an  unspeakable  comfort  to  know  that  I  had  not  my 
peace  to  make  with  God.  I  hope  we  shall  all  meet 
as  a  family  in  heaven.  Pray  for  us,  but  don't  be 
anxious. " 

In  April  following,  185 1,  she  was  asleep  with  her 
husband  in  an  ocean  grave !  How  sad,  how  mysterious 
such  an  event !  Yet  the  Lord  has  done  it.  It  was  in 
her  heart  to  do  something  for  Africa,  but  the  Master 
had  a  short  work  for  her.  Being  dead  she  yet  speaks, 
and  the  Lord  may  make  her  death  even  more  effective 
than  her  life. — Rev.  Alfred  Hamilton^  D.D. 


Miss  Jennie  M.   Small. 

Miss  Small  was  from  Denver,  Colo.,  and  joined  the 
Siam  Mission  in  1885,  where  she  did  excellent  work 
for  Christ.  She  died  of  cholera  at  Petchaburee,  June 
5,  1 89 1.  In  the  light  of  her  early  departure,  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph  from  her  letter  of  application  to  the 
Board  has  a  deep  significance:   ''  I  have  counted  well 


342  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  cost  of  missionary  service  and  am  quite  willing  to 
endure  all  for  the  sake  of  him  who  has  done  so  much 
for  me." 

She  was  taken  ill  Tuesday  evening  and  from  the 
first  anticipated  death.  Wednesday  night  she  bade 
farewell  to  the  school-girls,  telling  them,  in  Siamese, 
that  Jesus  had  called  her  and  that  she  had  great  joy 
in  going,  and  charging  them  to  meet  her  in  heaven. 
Her  sufferings  were  intense,  and  she  begged  Dr. 
Thompson,  who  had  hastened  up  from  Ratburee  and 
was  beside  her  for  twenty-seven  hours,  not  to  prolong 
her  life.  She  said  the  Lord  saw  Petchaburee  needed 
a  missionary's  grave  and  she  was  willing  it  should  be 
hers.  It  was  made  in  the  churchyard  and,  on  June  6, 
her  body  was  laid  there  "  with  the  usual  Christian 
ceremonies,  accompanied  by  much  weeping  on  the 
part  of  the  girls  and  Christian  women  who  stood  by." 
Mr.  McClure  writes:  "In  life  Miss  Small  had  not 
been  very  free  in  expressing  her  religious  feeling,  but 
in  death  her  faith  shone  forth  sublimely — not  a  shadow 
of  hesitation,  but  every  evidence  of  joy  at  the  pros- 
pect before  her."  Miss  Cooper  writes,  how  "unob- 
trusive "  she  was  in  making  her  work  public,  how 
"faithful  to  duty  no  matter  how  much  was  put  upon 
her  slight  frame,"  and  the  "pleasant  companion" 
she  was,  "whom  one  could  not  but  love  from  the 
firsthand-clasp." — Woman's  Work  for  Woman,  Sep- 
tember, 1891. 

Rev.   H.   H.    Spaulding. 

Last  Monday,  August  3,  1874,  our  beloved  Father 
Spaulding  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.     For  some  months 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  343 

past  he  has  been  slowly  failing.  A  few  weeks  ago  he 
came  to  us  from  Kamia — making  in  two  days  the  long 
hard  journey  of  sixty  miles  in  a  common  farm  wagon. 
We  hoped  that  the  change  and  the  constant  medical 
attention  he  could  receive  here  would  avail  to  raise 
him  up  again.  But  his  days  were  numbered.  An 
old  man  and  full  of  days,  he  is  now  gathered  to  his 
fathers. 

Rev.  H.  H.  Spaulding  ^vas  born  in  1804  in  the  State 
of  New  York ;  was  graduated  from  Western  Reserve 
College ;  studied  theology  at  Lane  Seminary,  and,  in 
1836,  was  by  the  A.  B.  C.  F.  M.  appointed  missionary 
to  the  Nez  Perces  Indians.  In  company  with  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Whitman  and  Mrs.  Spaulding — the  first  white 
women  to  cross  the  continent — he  came  to  this  field  of 
toil.  In  November,  1847,  occurred  the  ever-memor- 
able Whitman  massacre.  Mr.  Spaulding,  who  was  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  massacre,  had  a  very  narrow  escape 
for  life.  The  murderers  were  on  his  track.  Hiding  by 
day,  he,  night  after  night,  barefooted,  made  his  way 
over  sharp  rocks  and  stinging  thorns  until,  almost 
dead,  he  reached  a  place  of  safety.  Then  with  his 
family  he  left  the  field  for  a  time.  In  1862  he  re- 
entered it,  remaining,  however,  only  a  few  years.  In 
187 1,  he  again  resumed  the  work  under  appointment 
from  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
continuing  until  now  called  to  his  rest. 

Although  his  work  has  been  thus  interrupted  by 
long  intervals  of  absence,  it  is  v/onderful  how  much 
chiefly  by  his  instrumentality  has  been  accomplished 
for  this  people.  From  savagehood  they  have  been 
raised  to  a  good  degree  of  civiliz^ation.     From  know- 


344  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

ing  nothing  of  the  gospel,  a  very  large  proportion  of 
the  tribe  have  become  its  professed  followers.  No 
man  of  his  church — perhaps  no  man  living — has  in 
the  last  three  years  baptized  and  received  into  the 
church  of  God  so  many  converts  as  Father  Spaulding. 
Of  the  Nez  Perces  and  Spokans  over  900  have  in  that 
time  by  him  been  added  to  the  church.  He  has  pre- 
pared and  given  to  this  people  a  translation  of  the 
Gospel  of  Matthew  and  a  small  collection  of  Nez 
Perces  hymns.  He  had  also  far  advanced  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Such  works  will 
follow  him  even  while  he  sleeps  in  death. 

Conscious  up  to  the  last  hour,  he  looked  forward  to 
death  with  fortitude  and  hope.  The  last  words  I 
heard  him  utter  were,  ''  Precious  Jesus,  Jesus  only." 
Thus  peacefully  and  apparently  without  pain  he  passed 
through  death  to  life. — Rev.  George  Aiiisley. 

Mrs.   Cornelia  Speer. 

Mrs.  Speer,  wife  of  Rev.  William  Speer,  D.D.,  was 
theeldestdaughter  of  A.  Brackinridge,  Esq.,  of  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.  Brought  up  in  worldly  ease  and  wealth  in 
the  midst  of  a  large  circle  of  warmly  attached  friends, 
she  had  the  fairest  prospects  of  happiness.  These 
were  not  clouded,  but  greatly  extended  and  brightened 
by  her  being  enabled  to  devote  herself  witliout 
reserve  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  advance- 
ment of  his  cause  among  the  heathen.  Her  course, 
however,  was  short;  yet  it  was  long  enough  to  evince 
the  sincerity  of  her  religious  profession,  the  depth  of 
her  love  to  the  missionary  cause,  and  the  power  of 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  345 

our  Saviour's  grace  to  comfort  and  bless  his  chosen 
disciple. 

The  party  of  missionaries  with  whom  Mrs.  Speer 
went  to  China,  sailed  from  New  York  on  the  20th  of 
July,  1846.  On  the  loth  of  September  following;,  she 
was 'attacked  with  a  slight  hemorrhage  from  the 
lungs,  which  was  renewed  afterwards,  but  the  prog- 
ress of  the  disease  was  slow;  and  on  her  arrival  at 
Macao,  on  the  26th  of  December,  hopes  were  still  en- 
tertained of  her  recovery.  ' '  The  question  of  a  return 
to  the  United  States,"  says  Mr.  Speer,  from  whose 
narrative  this  memoir  is  taken,  "  soon  came  up,  and 
met  with  an  immediate  and  firm  negative  from  her, 
chiefly  on  the  ground  of  our  solemn  vows  to  God, 
and  entire  consecration  of  ourselves  to  the  missionary 


cause. 


*'0n  Sabbath,  7  th  of  March,  we  celebrated  the 
sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Mrs.  Speer  joined 
us,  though  carried  into  the  room,  and  forced  to  recline 
upon  a  sofa  during  its  administration.  She  ex- 
perienced very  strongly  the  sense  of  Christ's  gracious 
presence.  It  was  the  '  last  Supper '  to  her.  Hence- 
forth she  drank  not  with  us  of  '  the  fruit  of  the  vine.* 
Now,  we  trust,  she  '  drinks  it  new  with  Christ  in  the 
Father's  kingdom. '  To  her  last  hour  she  enjoyed,  in 
a  remarkable  manner,  the  distinct  sense  of  God's 
sustaining  hand  beneath  her.  Shortly  after  this  com- 
munion she  informed  me  that  on  one  afternoon,  as 
she  meditated,  the  realization  of  God's  presence  in 
the  room,  the  glory  and  the  majesty  and  the  bright- 
ness of  the  King  of  kings,  the  Father  of  lights,  yet 
arrayed  in  robes  of  unspeakable  love  and  pity,  was  so 


346  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

vivid  as  to  be  overpowering.  Her  soul  seemed  to  be 
swallowed  up  and  absorbed.  It  was  more  than 
nature  could  bear,  not  an  ecstasy,  but  an  oppressive 
*  weight  of  glory,'  of  almighty  love,  and  infinite  holi- 
ness and  majesty.  She  was  compelled  to  turn  away 
her  mind  lest  she  should  sink  down. " 

Henceforth  her  disease  made  rapid  progress,  though 
its  symptoms  '^  alternated,  for  several  days  at  a  time, 
with  periods  of  brightness  and  comparative  health 
and  strength.  On  pleasant  afternoons  she  rode  out 
in  a  sedan  chair  on  the  Praya  Grande  in  sight  of  the 
sea,  or  upon  the  Campo,  without  the  city,  along  paths 
shaded  with  the  bamboo,  the  plantain  and  the 
papaya;  and  often  came  back  much  refreshed.  It 
was  remarked  by  her,  that  the  days  when  she  was 
most  ill  and  debilitated  were  those  in  which  she  had 
the  most  rich  spiritual  enjoyment." 

"She  had  committed  herself  to  the  missionary 
work  with  deliberation,  numbering  her  days  and 
counting  the  cost.  There  was  no  romance  in  her 
calculations  when  she  forsook  all  that  she  had  for 
Christ.  Six  weeks  after  the  birth  of  her  little  daugh- 
ter she  writes  to  a  relative :. 

"  *  I  am  very  weak  and  frail  yet,  only  able  to  walk 
about  the  house.  This  will  astonish  you,  as  you  may 
call  to  mind  how  rapidly  I  used  to  skip  to  town  and 
back  again.*  Those  days  are  over,  and  God  has  seen 
fit  to  cast  me  down.  It  may  be  that  my  strength  will 
be  recovered  in  a  few  weeks;  but  there  is  some  rea- 
son to  fear  that  it  will  not.     I  feel  content  to  have  it 

*Her  father's  residence,  Linwood,  is  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
the  city  of  Pittsburgh. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  347 

either  way.  I  am  still  tnisting  in  God^  and  have 
found  no  reason  yet  for  distrust.' 

*' On  Tuesday,  April  13,  Mrs.  Speer  suffered  greatly 
from  palpitation  of  the  heart,  which  almost  deprived 
her  of  breath,  sometimes  for  fifteen  minutes  at  once. 
In  the  evening  she  spoke  strongly  of  her  anticipations 
of  joy  on  the  judgment  day.  She  imagined  the 
anxiety  of  those  who  should  meet  its  awful  trial.  '  I 
often  think  how  we  will  stretcJi  out  our  hands  toward 
Jesus  on  that  day,'  said  she:  ^  how  glad  w^e  will  be 
when  we  are  placed  on  his  right  hand.  God  will 
then  be  the  great  object  of  our  love;  still  we  will  love 
each  other,  too,  and  that  with  a  pure  and  holy  love.'  " 

In  this  sweet  trust  in  the  Saviour  she  was  kept 
until  the  hour  of  her  departure,  on  the  24th  of  April, 
1847.  "It  was  just  half-past  five  o'clock.  As  the 
evening  sun  threw  his  declining  rays  upon  the  scene 
of  woe,  oh,  how  vivid  and  consoling  was  the  thought 
that  she,  much  loved  and  departing,  was  at  the 
instant  entering  those  regions  of  glorious  splendor 
and  of  bliss,  where,  in  the  sunshine  of  the  presence 
of  the  Father  of  lights,  there  is  no  night  forever. 

"The  universal  expression  was,  '  How  peaceful!' 
Every  heart  seemed  to  feel  that  her  '  last  end  was 
peace.'  I  have  never  known  such  an  illustration  of 
Mrs.  Barbauld's  hymn,  which  she  had  loved  to  sing 
on  earth: 

*'  So  fades  a  summer  cloud  away  ; 

So  sinks  the  gale  when  storms  are  o'er  ; 
So  gently  shuts  the  ej'e  of  day  ; 
So  dies  a  wave  along  the  shore.' 

"  On  the  Sabbath  evening,  at  the  same  hour  of  the 


348  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

day,  we  laid  her  in  the  dust  in  that  green  and  quiet 
spot  of  the  cemetery  belonging  to  the  East  India 
Company,  where  lie  in  sacred  repose  the  remains  of 
the  revered  Morrison,  and  his  noble  wife  Mary,  and 
their  son  John,  and  those  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Dyer. 
What  a  bright  and  happy  company  shall  rise  thence 
on  the  morning  of  the  resurrection!" — J.  C.  L. 

Rev.   Oliver  P.   Stark. 

We  learn  with  great  regret  of  the  departure  from 
this  life  of  the  Rev.  Oliver  P.  Stark,  Superintendent 
of  Spencer  Academy,  Choctaw  Mission.  He  died  at 
Spencer,  April  4,  1884,  in  the  sixty-first  year  of  his 
age,  after  an  illness  of  some  weeks.  His  departure 
is  a  great  loss  to  the  Indians  and  to  his  family  and 
friends;  but  for  himself  it  was,  no  doubt,  gain  to  die. 
He  was  connected  with  the  Choctaw  nation  as  a 
teacher  from  1846  to  1849,  ^"^^  again  as  an  ordained 
missionary  from  1859  to  1861.  The  war  broke  up  the 
missionary  work,  and  he  became  a  minister  to  a  church 
in  Texas,  but  in  1882  the  way  was  opened  for  his  re- 
turn to  his  work  for  the  Choctaws,  who  warmly  wel- 
comed their  former  friend.  His  usefulness  seemed 
to  be  greater  than  ever.  But  his  work  here  is  ended. 
Such  is  the  will  of  the  Lord,  and  the  church  can  only 
say:    Thy  will  be  done. — Record^  May,  1884. 

Mrs.   Hattie  L.   Stocking. 

Rev.  William  R.  Stocking  and  wife  sailed  for 
Persia  in  1871,  and  within  a  year  of  their  arrival  Mrs. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  349 

Stocking  was  removed  by  death.  She  had  accom- 
panied her  husband  on  a  missionary  tour  in  Koordis- 
tan,  expecting  to  be  absent  from  Oroomiah  for  some 
weeks.  They  were  both  taken  with  severe  illness, 
which  brought  Mr.  Stocking  to  the  verge  of  the 
grave  and  removed  his  wife  to  a  better  world,  at 
Hassan,  on  the  2 2d  of  September,  1872.  We  mourn 
over  her  departure.  She  was  a  lovely  Christian 
woman  and  one  fitted  to  be  very  useful  as  a  mis- 
sionary. But  the  Lord's  ways  are  right,  gracious, 
loving,  best. — Record^  February,  1873. 

For  details  of  Mrs.  Stocking's  sickness,  death  and 
burial,  see  Foreign  Missionary^  February,  1873. 


Mrs.   Catharine  M.   Templeton. 

Mrs.  Templeton,  wife  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Templeton, 
of  the  Creek  Mission,  died  July  3,  1857.  She  had 
been  connected  with  the  mission  more  than  five  years, 
and  had  always  discharged  her  duties  with  marked 
efficiency.  The  testimony  of  her  associates  is  that 
she  died  as  she  had  lived,  trusting  in  the  Lord  Jesus. 


-Anmcal  Report,  1858. 


Mrs.    R.   a.   Thackwell. 

Our  dear  sister,  Mrs.  Thackwell,  wife  of  Rev. 
Reese  A.  Thackwell,  was  removed  from  our  midst 
on  Sabbath,  i6th  February  (1873),  shortly  after  mid- 
night.    She  bore  her  suffering  and  pain,  which  were 


350 


NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 


agonizing  in  the  extreme  at  times,  with  Christian 
patience  and  fortitude;  and  was  enabled  amid  all 
her  sufferings  to  glorify  her  God  and  Saviour.  When 
asked  by  a  friend  on  the  Sabbath  evening  before  her 
death  what  she  thought  in  view  of  the  great  change, 
she  said,  "  I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  for  all  my  trust  is  in 
Jesus.  I  would  like  to  feel  the  presence  of  my  Saviour 
very  near  me,"  Later  in  the  evening  she  became 
better,  and  we  all  lay  down  to  take  a  little  rest ;  but  only 
to  be  aroused  a  little  after  midnight  by  the  cry,  ''Be- 
hold, the  Bridegroom  cometh. "  When  we  all  gathered 
around  her  bedside  she  was  unable  to  speak,  and  her 
happy  spirit  soon  passed  away  to  the  brighter  and 
better  world  to  live  and  reign  with  Christ  in  endless 
day.  We  weep  for  ourselves,  not  for  her,  for  the 
pain  and  suffering  are  all  over.  She  sleeps  in  Jesus. 
Although  my  acquaintance  with  our  dear  sister  was 
short,  yet  I  can  truly  say  she  was  a  noble,  high- 
souled,  imselfish  woman,  and  an  humble,  faithful  and 
devoted  Christian.  For  her  to  live  was  Christ,  and  to 
die  was  gain.  She  was  a  powerful  example  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity.— 7^^^^^  A.  P.  Kelso. 

Rev.  William  M.   Thomson,   D.D. 

The  Rev.  William  M.  Thomson,  D.D.,  whose  death 
occurred  April  8,  1894,  at  Denver,  Colo.,  in  the  eighty- 
ninth  year  of  his  age,  was  born  at  Springdale,  O. , 
December  31,  1806.  He  was  graduated  from  Miami 
University  in  1826,  and  entered  Princeton  Theological 
Seminary  in  1829,  but  left  in  1831  before  graduation, 
and  went  to  Syria  as  a  missionary  of  the  American 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  35 1 

Board  in  1832,  arriving  at  Beirut  February  24,  1833. 
He  was  actively  connected  with  mission  work  in  Syria 
for  a  period  of  forty-three  years,  until  1876,  when  he 
left  Syria  and  after  a  sojourn  in  Scotland  returned  to 
the  United  States.  Until  1870  he  was  connected 
with  the  American  Board.  At  that  time,  however, 
the  Syria  Mission  was  transferred  to  the  care  of  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  and  since 
that  date  Dr.  Thomson's  official  connection  has  been 
with  the  latter  Board,  until  his  final  retirement  in 
1876.  Since  his  return  he  published,  in  1880-86,  the 
enlarged  edition  of  The  Land  and  the  Book,  a 
work  which  has  been  of  great  value  and  service  to  all 
lovers  of  the  Bible,  and  v/ith  which  his  name  will 
always  be  identified.  Dr.  Thomson  received  from 
Wabash  College,  in  1858,  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Divinity,  and  was  also  a  fellow  of  the  Royal 
Asiatic  Society,  and  of  the  Royal  Geological  Society. 

His  father.  Rev.  John  Thomson,  and  also  his 
m.other,  were  of  Scotch-Irish  descent,  and  removed 
to  Ohio  from  Kentucky  when  Cincinnati  was  only  a 
fort.  Both  his  parents  were  strong  characters,  and 
had  clear  convictions  upon  all  religious  as  well  as 
moral  and  political  questions.  This  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  even  at  that  early  date  they  left 
their  Kentucky  home  and  settled  in  Ohio  on  account 
of  their  strong  anti-slavery  feeling. 

Dr.  Thomson  married  Miss  Eliza  Nelson  Hanna, 
of  New  York,  before  his  departure  for  Syria.  Mrs. 
Thomson  died  in  1834.  He  subsequently  married 
Mrs.  Abbott,  the  widow  of  a  former  English  Consul 
in  Syria,  who  also  died  a  few  years  before  Dr.  Thom- 


352  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

son  finally  left  Syria.  The  circumstances  of  the 
death  of  his  first  wife  were  tragical.  It  happened 
that  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Beirut  he  went,  in  1834, 
to  Jerusalem.  It  was  at  the  time  of  the  disturbances 
incident  to  a  rebellion  against  the  iron  rule  of 
Mohammed  Ali.  Dr.  Thomson  had  occasion  to  leave 
Jerusalem  for  a  short  journey.  During  his  absence 
he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  Ibrahim  Pasha, 
who  could  not  be  made  to  understand  the  function  of 
a  missionary,  but  took  him  for  a  spy.  While  Dr. 
Thomson  was  thus  detained,  Ibrahim  Pasha  marched 
upon  Jerusalem,  and,  taking  advantage  of  an  earth- 
quake, assaulted  the  city  and  captured  it.  Mrs. 
Thomson,  with  her  infant  in  her  arms  (now  the  well- 
known  Dr.  William  H.  Thomson,  of  New  York), 
took  refuge  in  a  vault.  A  falling  stone  nearly 
crushed  the  babe.  Mrs.  Thomson,  who  was  writing 
a  letter  to  her  husband  at  the  time,  in  her  agitation 
overturned  the  inkstand  and  deluged  her  paper  with 
ink.  She  soon  after  became  delirious,  and  was  found 
in  this  state  by  Dr.  Thomson  on  his  return  to  Jeru- 
salem. She  died  while  still  dehrious,  and  was  buried 
at  Jerusalem. 

Dr.  Thomson  returned  to  Beirut,  where  he  resided 
during  most  of  his  missionary  life  in  Syria.  He  par- 
ticipated in  many  stirring  scenes  during  the  civil 
wars  of  1841,  1845  ^nd  i860.  In  the  war  of  1S45, 
through  his  personal  influence  and  courage,  the 
village  of  Abeih,  filled  with  refugees,  was  saved  from 
a  massacre.  Dr.  Thomson  was  himself  shot  at  while 
carrying  a  flag  of  truce.  In  the  disturbances  of  i860 
he  cooperated  with  Lord  Dufferin,  representing  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  353 

Allied  Powers,  in  adjusting  the  difficulties  of  that 
delicate  situation.  He  acted  as  Chairman  of  the  Re- 
lief Committee  organized  to  meet  the  emergency. 
He  was  a  tower  of  strength  to  the  mission  amidst  the 
many  difficulties  and  perils  of  the  early  heroic  period 
of  missionary  effort  in  Syria.  He  was  a  man  of  large 
and  statesmanlike  views,  calm  judgment,  undaunted 
courage,  great  practical  wisdom,  and  an  efficient  or- 
ganizer. He  held  a  position  of  commanding  influence 
among  natives  of  all  classes.  His  opinion  was  sought 
by  those  in  authority,  and  many  times  he  was 
secretly  consulted  by  the  leading  men  of  various  sects, 
with  entire  confidence  in  his  honor  and  wisdom.  One 
of  the  leading  peculiarities  of  his  missionary  life  was 
his  kindly  spirit  toward  the  natives,  and  his  success 
in  adapting  himself  to  the  life  of  the  country,  and  in 
winning  the  affection  and  confidence  of  the  people. 
Syria  is  a  field  in  which  pioneer  work  has  always 
been  attended  with  peculiar  difficulties.  Dr.  Thom- 
son at  different  times  opened  and  established  sta- 
tions at  new  points  with  remarkable  success.  His 
counsels  in  the  mission  were  of  great  value,  and  car- 
ried with  them  the  weight  of  his  strong  personality. 

In  his  private  life  he  w^as  a  man  of  genial  and 
lovely  qualities.  His  missionary  aims  were  large  and 
comprehensive,  his  devotion  to  duty  untiring,  and 
his  religious  views  were  characterized  by  strength  of 
conviction,  liberality,  and  the  best  of  common  sense. 
For  many  years  he  preached  continuously  at  Beirut 
both  in  Arabic  and  English.  He  was  the  con- 
temporary and  intimate  associate  of  that  noble  band 
of  early  Syrian  missionaries,  including  such  men  as 


354  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Bird,  Whiting-,  De  Forest,  Ford,.  Eli  Smith,  Simeon 
Calhoun  and  Cornelius  Van  Dyck.  He  took  a  promi- 
nent part  in  organizing  the  great  educational  work  of 
Syria,  as  represented  chiefly  at  the  present  time  by 
the  Syrian  Protestant  College  and  the  fine  institutions 
for  the  education  of  girls. 

He  is  known,  however,  in  this  country,  and  even 
throughout  the -world,  as  an  author  rather  than  as  a 
missionary.  His  monumental  work.  The  Land  and 
the  Book,  was  first  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers 
in  1858.  At  that  time  there  was  no  international 
copyright.  The  book  was  republished  in  England, 
and  had  there,  as  here,  a  phenomenal  sale.  It  was 
stated  before  the  Commission  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment on  international  copyright,  that  its  circulation  in 
Great  Britain  had  been  larger  than  any  other 
American  publication.  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  alone  ex- 
cepted. It  has  reappeared  in  numerous  editions  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  large,  thoroughly  re- 
vised and  rewritten  edition  in  three  volumes  was  pub- 
lished here,  and  in  England,  in  1880-86,  under  the  pro- 
visions of  an  international  copyright.  It  is  charac- 
terized by  a  peculiar  charm  of  style,  and  a  freshness 
and  vividness  which  gives  it  special  value  as  a  com- 
mentary upon  the  Scriptures.  The  reader  feels  as  if 
he  were  coming  into  living  contact  with  the  scenes 
and  incidents  of  the  Bible,  presented  w4th  a  fidelity 
and  insight  which  were  realistic.  His  later  edition 
of  the  book  was  written  with  care,  in  the  light  of 
modern  discoveries,  and  illustrated  by  photographs 
reproduced  under  the  personal  supervision  of  the 
author.     Dr.  Thomson  was  also  a  contributor  to  many 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  355 

periodicals  in  the  same  line  of  vivid  and  luminous 
illustration  of  the  Bible.  A  series  of  articles,  entitled 
"The  Physical  Basis  of  our  Spiritual  Language," 
published  in  the  BibliotJicca  Sacra^  reveals  the 
peculiar  genius  of  the  author  in  photographing  not 
only  the  physical  background,  but  the  spiritual  sig- 
nificance of  Scripture  language. 

Such  a  life  has  been  of  inestimable  value  not  only 
to  missions,  but  to  the  cause  of  popular  Biblical  in- 
struction. It  is  a  worthy  example  of  the  varied  and 
unique  service  often  rendered  by  missionaries,  the 
true  significance  and  power  of  which  are  not  always 
recognized. — Rev.  James  S.  Dennis^  D.D. 


Mrs.   William  M.   Thomson. 

Mrs.  Thomson,  wife  of  Rev.  William  M.  Thomson, 
D.D.,  died  April  29,  1873.  ''  She  has  been  longer  in 
Syria,"  writes  Rev.  S.  H.  Calhoun,  "than  any  other 
member  of  our  mission.  She  was  greatly  beloved  by 
all  who  knew  her,  both  foreign  and  native.  I  have 
been  acquainted  with  her  for  thirty-four  years,  and 
have  found  no  one  who  combined  more  excellencies 
of  character  than  she  did  and  all  sanctified  by  divine 
grace." — Record^  J^^ly?  1873. 


Rev.   David  Trumbull,   D.D. 

On  February  i,  1889,  at  Valparaiso,  Chili,  died  one 
of  the  true  nobility  among  men.  He  lacked  but  a 
few  months  of  the  allotted  threescore  years  and  ten, 


356  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

and  over  all  his  years  had  lain  the  glow  of  a  sunny, 
large-hearted  and  truly  Christ-like  spirit.  No  man 
who  knew  Dr.  Trumbull  personally,  and  had  had 
opportunity  to  test  and  measure  the  depth  and 
generosity  of  his  friendship,  will  speak  of  him  in  the 
mere  set  phrases  of  ordinary  regret.  Wherever  he 
was  known  he  was  loved.  Though  he  was  endowed 
with  those  qualities  which  would  have  made  him  a 
shining  light  among  his  contemporaries  at  home,  he 
early  laid  his  plans  for  a  more  self-denying  work,  in 
some  respects  a  lonely  and  isolated  work,  on  the  west 
coast  of  South  America,  because  he  felt  that  morally 
and  spiritually  that  long  coast-line  was  without  one 
beacon  of  evangelical  light.  And  it  may  well  be 
said  of  him  that  he  was  for  many,  many  years  a 
pharos^  uplifted  in  the  surrounding  night  of  papal 
superstition  and  sending  forth  his  light  near  and  afar. 
Referring  to  his  choice,  he  wrote  in  March,  1845: 

"  It  seems  as  if  a  field  is  open  there,  and  in  some 
respects  as  though  I  am  fitted  to  enter  and  till  it  and 
scatter  in  the  seed,  waiting  patiently  for  God  to  give 
the  increase." 

On  the  voyage  out  in  the  ship  Mississippi  he 
preached  regularly  on  the  Sabbath,  and  accomplished 
much  good  for  passengers  and  crew.  The  indiffer- 
ence of  his  fellow-voyagers  to  religion,  instead  of 
driving  him  in  upon  himself  in  timid  silence,  only  led 
him  to  pray  the  more  earnestly  that  he  might  have 
''utterance"  and  fidelity. 

He  was  not  a  man  to  be  despised  or  disliked  even 
by  the  irreligious.  His  ever-beaming  face,  his  warm 
and  cordial  address,  were  a  passport  to  all  hearts. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  357 

One  of  his  prayers,  as  he  thought,  possibly,  with  some 
misgivings  of  his  receding  home,  was,  ' '  May  God 
assist  me  to  a  pure  purpose  of  being  his,  and  of  sin- 
cerely asking  where  I  can  do  the  most  good,  and  of 
going  freely."  As  the  voyage  drew  to  a  close,  he  re- 
corded the  prayer,  "  Now  nearing  my  field,  may  I  be 
aided  to  be  faithful,  remembering  that  I  am  to  give 
account." 

He  had  gone  out  in  response  to  an  appeal  presented 
by  the  Foreign  Evangelical  Society  in  behalf  of  the 
west  coast  of  South  America.  Stepping  ashore  on 
Christmas  day,  1845,  a  young  man  of  twenty-six 
years  of  age,  he  at  once  laid  his  plans  for  work.  He 
was  not  long  in  winning  the  confidence  and  sincere 
friendship  of  prominent  business  men  in  Valparaiso; 
and  while  his  heart  longed  especially  for  the  be- 
nighted native  population,  he  at  length  drew  around 
him  men  of  means  and  of  clear  appreciation,  with 
whose  aid  he  founded  a  church  for  the  foreign  popu- 
lation. His  first  service  was  held  in  the  house 
of  an  English  merchant,  Mr.  Sewell.  He  found  an 
Anglican  consular  chaplain  already  in  the  city,  be- 
tween whom  and  himself  a  warm  friendship  sprang 
up.  After  he  had  preached  for  some  years  on  board 
vessels  and  in  small  chapels  fitted  up  on  shore,  the 
Union  Church  was  dedicated  in  1855.  having  cost 
$16,000.  In  1864  the  "Hall"  was  added  at  a  cost 
of  §13,000.  The  present  church  edifice,  in  which  he 
was  long  engaged  as  pastor,  was  built  in  1869.  The 
old  church,  having  been  used  for  a  time  by  a  German 
colony,  was  afterwards  purchased,  during  the  mis- 
sionary service  of  Rev.  A.  M.  Merwin,  by  the  mis- 


35^  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

sion,  and  the  Chilian  Evang-elical  Church  now 
occupies  the  place. 

Dr.  Trumbull  labored  for  several  years  in  coopera- 
tion with  the  American  and  Foreign  Christian  Union, 
and  in  later  years  with  the  Presbyterian  Board. 
Though  not  drawing  support  from  the  Board,  he  was 
an  honorary  and  voting  member  of  the  mission  and 
a  valuable  adviser  and  helper.  From  an  early  day 
he  gave  much  attention  to  the  spread  of  Christian 
literature  and  the  advancement  of  education.  He 
provided  for  a  time  copies  of  the  Scriptures  for  dis- 
tribution, but  in  1 86 1,  by  the  help  of  Mr.  Alexander 
Balfour  and  others,  he  founded  the  Valparaiso  Bible 
Society,  which  has  put  in  circulation  in  Chili  nearly 
sixty  thousand  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  and  more 
than  double  that  number  of  other  religious  books. 
His  broad  and  genial  spirit  was  illustrated  by  the  fact 
that  he  united  with  a  Roman  Catholic  prelate  in 
soliciting  subscriptions  to  publish  a  Nev/  Testament 
**  which  the  archbishop  would  approve."  Many 
copies  of  this  issue  have  been  used.  Yet,  while 
friendly  to  all,  he  did  not  fail  to  drive  home  upon  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  of  Chili  a  constant  succession 
of  such  telling  truths  as  were  calculated  to  dissipate 
the  darkness  that  had  so  long  lain  upon  the  land. 

Dr.  Trumbull  had  taken  a  deep  interest  through 
all  the  years  of  his  residence  in  Valparaiso  in  every- 
thing that  concerned  the  material  improvement  of 
Chili.  His  pen  was  ever  ready  to  advocate  wise 
public  measures  and  to  advance  reforms,  and  his  per- 
sonal influence  with  men  in  high  authority  became  at 
length  phenomenal.     He  always  displayed  a  peculiar 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  359 

tact  that  rendered  his  counsels  acceptable  and  safe. 
More  than  once  was  he  consulted  by  those  high  in 
authority,  and  his  judgment  was  honored. 

Speaking  of  his  death,  El  Mcrciirio^  a  secular  paper 
of  Valparaiso,  in  its  issue  of  February  2,  said: 

"Valparaiso  owed  him  much,  and  she  always  felt 
honored  in  claiming  him,  first,  as  the  most  worthy 
and  best  known  of  her  foreign  residents,  and,  sec- 
ondly, as  a  fellow-countryman ;  nay,  even  more,  as  a 
true  brother,  as  he  proved  by  his  love  to  humanity, 
and  especially  by  the  love  and  interest  which  he  felt 
in  all  that  pertained  to  the  material  and  moral  ad- 
vancement of  this  country. 

"We  can  understand  the  grief  that  will  come  to- 
day to  those  w^ho  more  directly  received  the  benefits 
of  his  teaching,  his  intelligence,  his  vast  experience, 
his  counsels  and  comforts  which  he  extended  to  seek- 
ing souls.  Nevertheless,  to  us  it  seems  as  though 
his  loss  affects  us  all  equally,  since,  as  we  have 
already  said,  the  worthy  and  beloved  Dr.  Trumbull 
was  a  living  example  of  virtue,  and  since  to  his  ex- 
alted spirit  it  seemed  as  though  all  in  his  sphere 
were  brothers,  whatever  might  be  their  nationalit}^, 
their  social  position  or  religious  beliefs.  Such  was 
the  man  whom  we  have  just  lost,  and  for  whom  the 
Mcrcurio  ever  had  the  respect,  appreciation  and 
esteem  which  our  society,  with  just  reason,  vouch- 
safed him." 

I  cannot  close  this  brief  sketch  without  laying 
upon  the  tomb  of  David  Trumbull  my  personal 
tribute  of  esteem  and  of  real  affection.  On  two 
occasions  while  he  was  visiting  the  United  States  I 


360  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

had  opportunity  to  know  him  even  better  than  I  had 
been  enabled  to  do  by  years  of  friendly  correspond- 
ence. It  was  something  additional  to  see  him,  to 
feel  the  warm  grasp  of  his  hand,  and  to  hear  the 
bright  sallies  of  pleasantry  and  humor  which  came 
forth  from  his  ever-glowing  cheerfulness.  It  lighted 
his  beaming  face,  even  though  at  that  time  he  knew 
that  he  was  a  victim  of  a  fatal  disease.  By  the 
skill  of  a  loving  son,  who  was  his  physician,  that  dis- 
ease, angina  pectoris^  was  held  in  check  for  several 
years,  but  it  claimed  its  victim  at  the  last. 

Great  family  afflictions,  in  the  loss  of  dear  children 
who  had  attained  to  manhood  and  womanhood,  had 
fallen  upon  our  dear  brother,  but  they  had  not  shaken 
his  confidence  in  God  nor  blinded  the  vision  with 
which  he  beheld  the  glories  that  are  to  come. — F.  F. 
Ellinzuood,  D.D. 


Mrs.  Mary  Lenington  Waddell. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Waddell,  wife  of  the  Rev.  W. 
A.  Waddell,  which  occurred  on  November  i,  1893, 
removed  from  the  Brazil  Mission  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful workers  and  wisest  counselors.  Lifelong 
acquaintance  with  the  field  gave  her  rare  insight  into 
Brazilian  character  and  the  perplexing  questions  of 
the  work.  A  judgment  ripened  by  communion  with 
Christ  enabled  her  to  discern  between  the  essential 
and  the  tmessential,  while  her  deep  consecration  in- 
spired every  act  of  her  life  and  was  a  constant  means 
of  grace  to  all  who  knew  her. — Annual  Report^  1894. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  361 

Miss  Emma  Walsh. 

Miss  Emma  was  the  second  daughter  of  Rev.  J.  J. 
Walsh,  of  Allahabad,  and  joined  her  father  as  an 
assistant  missionary  in  November,  1868.  Though 
born  in  India,  she  had  been  in  this  country  for  some 
years,  receiving  her  education.  She  united  with  the 
church  at  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  where  she  resided  until 
she  left  with  her  mother  and  sister  for  India.  As 
soon  as  she  was  able  she  gathered  a  cla-ss  of  girls 
to  v/hom  she  taught  the  Bible.  Preparations  v/ere 
made  for  an  enlargement  of  the  work,  and  she  was 
ready  to  move  into  her  schoolroom,  when  the  mes- 
senger came.  She  had  not  been  well  for  a  few  days, 
but  there  was  nothing  in  her  case  to  excite  alarm  until 
a  few  hours  before  her  departure  from  earth.  At  noon 
of  August  15,  1869,  a  high  fever  set  in,  when  she 
became  delirious  and  at  six  that  evening  she  died. — 
Foreign  Missionary^  November,  1869. 

Rev.  Joseph  Warren,  D.D. 

Rev.  J.  S.  Woodside,  who  was  with  him,  writes: 
''His  end  was  most  peaceful.  He  had  suffered 
greatly  for  about  seven  weeks,  but  it  pleased  the  Lord 
to  give  him  relief  from  extreme  bodily  pain  for  the 
last  two  or  three  days  before  his  decease.  His  fune- 
ral was  largely  attended  by  all  classes  of  people. 
Officers  and  men  of  all  ranks  were  there."  Dr. 
Warren  had  suffered  for  some  time  from  pericarditis. 
In  the  last  note  received  from  him  he  says,  "  If  this 
should  be  my  last  letter  to  you,  let  me  express  my 


362  NECROLOCICAL   RECORD 

ardent  wishes  for  the  prosperity  of  the  Board  of 
Missions.  I  am  very  ill  now;  but  our  King  will  do 
all  things  well." 

When  he  returned  to  India  (in  1872)  it  was  with 
the  expectation  of  dying  in  the  harness  and  in  that 
country.  He  has  had  his  wish.  He  was  a  valued 
missionary,  a  good  counselor,  a  warm-hearted  friend 
and  greatly  beloved  by  his  associates  and  the  people 
among  whom  he  labored.  He  leaves  a  widow  in 
India  and  two  children  in  this  country.  Dr.  Warren 
went  to  India  in  1839  and  returned  home  in  1855. 
Went  again  in  1872  and  died  March  7,  1877. — 
Foreign  Missionary^  May,  1877. 

Before  leaving  the  mission,  in  1855,  he  published 
an  affecting  and  beautiful  memoir  of  Jatni,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  at  Allahabad : 

"She  was  the  daughter  of  a  Brahman,  but  she 
becam  a  child  of  God.  In  all  the  relations  and 
events  of  life,  her  deportment  was  exemplary.  And 
when  called  at  length  to  pass  over  Jordan,  she  was 
supported  by  a  good  hope  through  grace.  Dr.  War- 
ren, with  tender  caution,  had  apprised  her  of  the 
probable  termination  of  her  disease;  and  he  adds: 
'  I  was  delighted  to  find  that  she  had  thought  of  it, 
and  had  come  to  feel  willing  that  God  should  do  with 
her,  as  to  life,  just  as  he  pleased.  I  questioned  her 
closely,  and  set  death  and  the  judgment  before  her 
plainly;  but  her  nerves  were  firm,  her  eye  clear,  and 
her  voice  calm  and  steady:  "  I  know  Christ,  and  can 
fully  and  completely  trust  him  in  all  things.  He 
keeps  my  mind  in  perfect  peace."  I  saw  her  often, 
and  found  her  the  same.'     She  was  enabled  to  resign 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  363 

herself,  her  husband  and  her  child  to  the  care  of  her 
Father  in  heaven,  and  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-two, 
she  departed  joyfully  to  be  with  Christ." 

Rev.  W.  J.  White,  D.D. 

On  Monday  afternoon,  July  27  (1S91),  at  Elmira, 
N.  Y.,  Rev.  and  Mrs.  Wellington  J.  White,  their 
three  children,  Lilian  C,  Mabel  G.  and  Mary  M., 
aged  respectively  nine,  seven  and  two  5^ears,  with 
Hattie  Hastings,  aged  twelve,  a  daughter  of  a  friend, 
and  Susie  McCarthy,  a  nurse-girl  of  thirteen,  were 
together  in  a  covered  carriage,  taking  a  drive. 
While  crossing  the  Erie  Railroad  track,  the  carriage 
was  struck  by  an  express  train  which  was  moving  at 
the  rate  of  about  thirty  or  thirty-five  miles  an  hour. 

The  persons  in  the  carriage  were  thrown  in  various 
directions.  Some  against  a  standing  freight  train, 
and  some  were  caught  by  the  cow-catcher  of  the 
engine.  Mr.  White,  his  daughter  Lilian,  Hattie 
Hastings  and  Susie  McCarthy  were  instantly  killed; 
Mrs.  White  and  little  Mary  were  seriously  injured, 
while  Mabel  escaped  with  only  a  few  bruises. 

As  we  go  to  press,  we  learn  that  there  is  good 
hope  of  the  recovery  of  little  Mary.  The  case  of 
Mrs.  White  is  more  serious.  The  physicians  in 
charge  have  hopes  for  her  recovery,  yet  her  life 
hangs  as  by  a  thread. 

Mr.  White  was  a  member  of  the  Canton  Mission 
since  1881.  He  was  especially  engaged  in  itinerary 
work,  operating  from  Macao  as  a  centre.  His  fur- 
lough had  almost  expired,  and  he  and  Mrs.  White 


364  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

were  looking  forward  eagerly  to  their  return  in  Sep- 
tember.    Their  passage  had  been  already  engaged. 

During  their  visit  to  the  United  States,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  White  had  been  very  active  in  attending  meet- 
ings of  synods,  presbyteries,  missionary  societies  and 
bands,  and  had  made  many  valued  acquaintances  and 
friends.  Although  in  this  country  for  rest  and  recu- 
peration, they  seemed  to  rest  most  while  on  the  wing, 
and  to  recuperate  best  while  at  work. 

Mr.  White  had  mastered  the  Cantonese  dialect, 
and  was  eminently  fitted  for  his  special  work.  His 
sudden  death  and  the  death  of  his  little  daughter 
will  cause  great  sorrow  in  all  missionary  circles,  as  well 
as  among  his  many  relatives  and  friends.  He  will 
be  sadly  missed  in  the  great  mission  field  and  work. 
— Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^  September,  1891. 

Rev.  Albert  Whiting. 

Mr.  Whiting,  of  Ningpo  Mission,  China,  died  at 
Tai  Yuen,  April  25,  1878.  During  the  famine  which 
prevailed  in  the  northern  provinces,  large  amounts  of 
money  were  contributed  by  foreigners  for  the  relief 
of  the  sufferers,  and  generally  the  missionaries  and 
their  native  Christian  converts  were  depended  upon 
for  the  self-denying  work  of  distribution.  For  this 
service,  which  taxed  one's  utmost  strength  and  en- 
dangered life  by  contact  with  prevailing  disease,  Mr. 
Whiting  volunteered  early  in  the  spring. 

His  journal  of  travel  as  he  passed  into  the  interior 
by  highways  lined  with  the  bodies  of  the  dead  and 
the  dying,  shows  what  must  have  been  the   strain 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  365 

brought  upon  him,  and  renders  it  less  surprising-  that 
within  two  or  three  weeks  he  was  prostrated  with  an 
attack  of  deadly  typhoid.  He  died  without  experi- 
enced medical  care  and  with  few  comforts  about  him, 
though  receiving  the  careful  attentions  of  a  traveling 
companion.  Mr.  Whiting  assumed  his  share  of  the 
sacrifice  and  risk  with  calm  fortitude,  well  knowing 
how  much  was  at  stake  and  holding  himself  ready  to 
meet  the  divine  will. — Annual  Report^  1879- 

Mr.  Whiting  was  a  graduate  of  Princeton  Theolo- 
gical Seminary,  and  sailed  for  China  in  the  summer 
of  1874,  and  established  with  Rev.  Charles  Leaman 
the  mission  at  Nanking.  One  of  his  traveling  com- 
panions on  his  sorrowful  journey  writes  to  Mrs.  Whit- 
ing :  '■ '  On  our  voyage  from  Shanghai  to  Tientsing,  Mr. 
Whiting  conducted  a  little  service  which  we  held 
together  in  his  cabin  on  Sunday,  and  he  spoke  of 
heaven,  urging  the  more  frequent  consideration  of 
our  Father's  house  on  high.  Illustration  after  illus- 
tration he  gave  us  as  though  the  subject  had  laid  fast 
hold  of  his  own  mind ;  and  it  even  led  me  to  ask  him 
if  he  had  any  presentiment  of  death  in  connection 

with  this  work,  but  he  replied  that  he  had  not 

Now  and  then  he  alluded,  without  any  appearance  of 
boastfulness,  to  the  great  sacrifice  which  it  had  cost 
him  to  come  because  of  his  family  ties;  and  yet  he 
would  add  that  for  the  sake  of  exhibiting  in  practical 
life  the  teachings  of  our  holy  religion  and  attesting 
the  common  brotherhood  of  man  he  was  glad  to 
come." — Foreign  Missionary^  August,  1878,  and  Sep- 
tember, 1879. 

The   following   extract  from   a   missionary  letter 


366  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

published  in  the  Missionary  Record  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  of  England,  will  be  read  with  interest 
by  all  friends  of  missions.  Would  that  it  might  also 
reach  the  skeptical  and  indifferent.  The  Mr.  Richard 
mentioned  is  a  devoted  missionary  of  the  English 
Baptist  Society,  and  shared  with  Mr,  Whiting  in  his 
self-denying  labors. 

Recently  a  man  came  to  the  capital  of  the  vShan-si 
province,  to  ascertain  Mr.  Richard's  name,  that  it 
might  be  put  up  in  the  temple  of  his  village,  for 
worship. 

''A  touching  incident  of  Chinese  appreciation  has 
recently  occurred  in  connection  with  the  interment 
of  the  body  of  the  Rev.  Albert  Whiting.  Mr.  V/hit- 
ing,  of  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission,  fell  a  vic- 
tim to  famine  fever  a  few  days  after  his  arrival  at 
Tai-yuen-fu,  the  capital  of  Shan-si.  His  body  was 
enclosed  in  a  strong  coffin  until  his  wife  and  friends 
should  be  communicated  with,  and  their  desires  ascer- 
tained as  to  its  disposal.  Their  message  was  that  he 
should  be  buried  where  he  fell.  Mr.  Richard  accord- 
ingly sought  to  purchase  a  piece  of  ground  for  the 
grave.  Before  the  purchase  was  completed,  he  com- 
municated with  the  governor  of  the  province,  as  for- 
eigners have  no  legal  right  to  hold  land  in  the  inte- 
rior. The  first  answer  was  an  order  for  400  taels 
(about  ^130)  on  the  public  treasury.  The  order  was 
accompanied  with  an  intimation  that  as  Mi\  Whiting 
had  died  in  the  service  of  the  suffering  Chinese,  the 
least  that  the  province  could  do  to  show  its  gratitude 
was  to  bear  the  expense  of  sending  home  his  body 
to  America.     The  governor,  of  course,  thought  that 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  367 

what  is  SO  dear  to  a  Chinaman — namely,  to  be  buried 
beside  his  ancestors — must  be  equally  dear  to  a  for- 
eigner. On  Mr.  Richard  explaining  the  Christian 
feeling  in  this  matter,  and  the  express  desire  of  Mr. 
Whiting's  friends  that  he  should  be  buried  at  Tai- 
yuen-fu,  the  governor  insisted  that  in  that  case  all 
expenses  connected  with  the  purchase  of  the  land 
should  be  borne  by  the  treasury. 

*' At  the  funeral  twelve  Chinese  carried  the  coffin 
to  the  grave.  A  short  service  was  held  there,  and  at 
its  close  one  of  the  Chinese  came  forward,  saying  to 
the  foreign  missionaries  present :  '  Since  you  have 
shown  your  respect  to  Mr.  Whiting,  who  has  lost  his 
life  in  seeking  our  good,  let  us  also  pay  our  respect.' 
Mr.  James  adds :  '  Before  we  had  time  to  stop  him, 
he  had  suited  the  action  to  the  word,  and  was  down 
on  his  knees  before  the  grave;  the  others  would 
have  done  the  same  had  we  not  restrained  them,  and 
more  fully  explained  our  meaning.'  " 

Oh,  when  will  Americans  begin  to  realize  that  the 
Chinese  are  one  of  the  noblest  races  on  the  globe ! — 
— Foreign  Missionary ^KwgM'-.'i^  1S78,  and  September, 
1879. 

Mrs.  James  Williams. 

Mrs.  Williams,  wife  of  Mr.  James  Williams,  of  the 
Indian  Orphan  Institute,  Kansas,  died  May  28,  1863, 
sincerely  lamented  by  those  who  knew  her  worth. 
She  was  supported  to  the  last  by  a  good  hope  through 
grace. — Annual  Report^  1864. 


368  necrological  record 

Mrs.    Sarah  W.   Williams — Rev.    Edwin  T. 
Williams. 

Mrs.  Williams,  wife  of  the  Rev.  Edwin  T.  Williams, 
was  a  native  of  South  Carolina.  At  an  early  age  she 
professed  her  faith  in  Christ,  and  through  grace  was 
enabled  to  adorn  that  profession  by  a  beautiful  and 
consistent  life.  She  consented  to  engage  in  mis- 
sionary work,  in  full  view  of  its  trials  and  with  every- 
thing that  could  have  made  a  residence  in  her  native 
land  joyous  and  attractive;  a  sense  of  her  unworthi- 
ness  to  serve  her  Redeemer  in  such  a  holy  work  was 
her  chief  discouragement.  She  left  this  country 
with  her  husband  in  the  fall  of  1853,  but  she  was  not 
permitted  to  remain  long  at  Corisco.  The  seeds  of 
consumption,  sown  before  she  left  her  native  land,  de- 
veloped so  rapidly  in  disease  on  the  voyage  and  after 
her  arrival  that  in  about  three  months  it  was  deemed 
expedient  that  she  should  return  to  this  country. 
She  lingered  here  in  feebleness  until  June  12,  1855, 
when  she  died,  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  her  age. 
Her  last  days  were  remarkably  supported  by  divine 
grace;  and  her  last  hours  deeply  impressed  the  weep- 
ing friends  around  her  dying  bed  with  the  conviction 
that  she  was  already  seeing  her  Saviour.  ^'  Wearing 
still  a  smile  of  heavenly  radiance^  her  gentle,  happy 
spirit  entered  into  rest." — Presbyterian. 

Mr.  Williams  afterwards  returned  to  Africa  as  a 
missionary  in  Liberia.  His  health  having  suffered 
from  fever  of  the  coast,  he  visited  this  country,  hop- 
ing to  be  able  to  go  back  to  the  work  which  he  pre- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  369 

ferred  to  any  other;  but  before  he  was  able  to  return 
to  it,  and  while  still  connected  with  the  Board  as  one 
of  its  missionaries,  the  rebellion  was  begun  and  it 
arrested  his  plans.  He  then  took  charge  of  a  church 
in  Florida,  and  his  relations  to  the  Board  were 
virtually,  though  not  formally,  dissolved.  He  was 
called  to  his  rest  in  1S65.  He  was  a  man  of  singularly 
amiable  character  and  of  sincere  and  devoted  piety. 
As  a  missionary  he  was  held  in  the  warmest  esteem 
by  his  associates  and  by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was 
a  native  of  Georgia,  a  graduate  of  Nassau  Hall  and 
of  the  Theological  Seminary,  Princeton.  In  the 
thirty-ninth  year  of  his  age  he  entered  into  the  joy  of 
his  Lord. — J.  C.  L. 


Rev.  Thomas  S.  Williamson,   M.D. 

Seldom  do  we  meet  with  a  nobler  record  of  Chris- 
tian fidelity  and  real  heroism  than  that  afforded  by 
the  life  and  labors  of  this  veteran  apostle  to  the  Da- 
kotas.  The  missionary  career  of  Dr.  Williamson, 
which  closed  at  St.  Peter's,  Minn.,  on  the  24th  of  June, 
1879,  was  remarkable  alike  in  its  inception  and  in  its 
completion.  He  died  at  nearly  eighty  years  of  age, 
and  at  a  time  when  an  important  work  in  the  trans- 
lation of  the  word  of  God  into  the  Dakota  language,  in 
which  he  had  been  associated  with  his  worthy  friend, 
Dr.  Riggs,  had  just  been  consummated.  He  had  never 
had  a  doubt  of  his  call  to  his  particular  work;  he  had 
been  preserved  amid  many  hardships  and  privations 
and  imminent  perils,  and  he  had  exceeded  his  most 


370  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

sanguine  expectations  in  the  fruits  bestowed  upon 
his  labors.  He  had  seen  the  salvation  of  the  Lord, 
and  his  dying  testimony  showed  that  he  received  the 
last  summons  in  peace. 

Thomas  vS.  Williamson  was  born  in  March,  iSoo,  in 
Fair  Forest,  Union  District,  S.  C.  He  inherited  a 
noble  and  conscientious  spirit  from  his  father,  Rev. 
William  Williamson,  who,  in  1805,  removed  from 
South  Carolina  into  Adams  county,  O.,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  manumitting  his  slaves.  By  thus  migrating 
to  a  State  in  which  he  could  do  justice  to  his  bond- 
men, the  elder  Williamson  anticipated  the  final  and 
complete  overthrow  of  slavery  by  sixty  years ;  and 
by  his  prophetic  act  of  commiseration  toward  the 
oppressed  of  one  race  he  doubtless  helped  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  that  sympathy  which  led  his  son 
to  espouse  the  cause  of  another  injured  race  years 
later. 

Young  Williamson  was  graduated  at  Jefferson  Col- 
lege in  181 7,  and  at  Yale  Medical  School  in  1824.  Set- 
tling as  a  physician  in  Ripley,  O. ,  he  had  acquired  a 
large  and  lucrative  practice,  when  his  mind  became 
deeply  impressed  with  the  destitution  of  the  Indians. 
There  has  been  no  time  in  the  entire  history  of 
American  aggression  upon  these  people  when  their 
condition  might  not  have  appealed  with  special  em- 
phasis to  the  S3'mpathies  of  a  Christian  physician. 
vSince  they  experienced  the  contact  of  the  white  set- 
tlers, many  diseases  of  infection  have  been  added  to 
those  wdiich  they  formerly  suffered.  And  other  mal- 
adies arising  from  the  exposure  incident  to  their 
enforced  removals,  and  from  the  process  of  acclima- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  37 1 

tion,  as  well  as  those  following  in  the  wake  of  famine, 
have  preyed  upon  the  wasting  tribes.  The  precari- 
ous and  irregular  provisions  of  our  Government  have 
proved  but  an  inadequate  substitute  for  the  abundant 
supplies  of  food  which  were  once  afforded  them  by 
their  ample  hunting-grounds.  Strength  has  failed 
.them,  and  generation  after  generation  they  have 
gradually  approached  extinction. 

The  heart  of  the  young  physician  at  Riple}^  was 
keenly  alive  to  this  sad  spectacle,  while  at  the  same 
time  he  was  moved  by  their  spiritual  destitution.  He 
had  experienced  the  converting  grace  of  God  while 
in  college,  and  he  now  longed  to  become  a  physician 
both  for  the  souls  and  for  the  bodies  of  these  neg- 
lected children  of  the  forest. 

His  young  wife  was  also  in  full  sympathy  with 
him.  The  question  of  offering  themselves  as  mis- 
sionaries was  discussed  and  prayed  over  ;  and  at 
length,  solely  on  account  of  their  young  children,  it 
was  decided  in  the  negative.  But  God,  whose  provi- 
dences are  often  shrouded  in  mystery,  took  the  chil- 
dren to  himself.  When  in  January,  1833,  ^^^  l3,st 
two  died  within  a  few  days  of  each  other.  Dr.  William- 
son "arose  as  if  God's  voice  were  sounding  in  his 
ears,"  and  began  his  preparations  for  missionary 
work  among  the  Indians.  He  scarcely  needed  to 
consult  the  opinions  of  human  counselors,  so  clear 
were  his  convictions  of  duty. 

While  none  are  to  wait  till  they  receive  precisely 
the  same  kind  of  message  from  God's  Spirit  as  he 
did;  while  the  methods  and  the  processes  of  convic- 
tion differ  both  in  kind  and  degree ;  and  while  many 


372  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

of  the  noblest  and  most  successful  missionaries  have 
at  first  lacked  such  clear  indications — yet  it  is  always 
tmdoubtedly  an  element  of  moral  power  to  feel  as- 
sured that  one's  stewardship  is  from  his  divine  Mas- 
ter. In  this  case  this  assurance  proved  a  steady 
support  in  many  an  hour  of  danger.  Dr.  Williamson 
left  his  medical  practice  and  spent  a  year  in  Lane 
Theological  Seminary,  after  which  (in  1834)  he  made 
a  preliminary  tour  of  observation  among  the  Sioux 
on  the  Upper  Mississippi.  During  the  same  year  two 
brothers  of  the  name  of  Pond  be^an  to  labor  amonof 
the  Sioux  as  self-supported  missionaries.  Dr.  William- 
son removed  his  family  to  his  chosen  field  in  1S35. 
The  St.  Peter's  Tribune  states  that : 

"He  was  accompanied  by  his  wife  and  infant 
daughter,  by  his  wife's  sister.  Miss  Mary  Poage, 
afterwards  Mrs.  Gideon  H.  Pond,  and  by  Mr.  Alex- 
ander G.  Huggins  and  family.  He  stopped  a  few 
weeks  at  Fort  Snelling,  where,  June  12,  1835,  he 
presided  at  the  organization  of  the  first  Protestant 
church  in  Minnesota,  consisting  of  twenty-two  white 
members. 

'^  Soon  after,  they  proceeded  to  Lac  qui-Parle. 
Until  they  reached  Traverse  des  Sioux,  then  a  trading 
post  held  by  Mr.  Le  Blancs,  the  families,  goods  and 
wagons  were  transported  on  a  Mackinac  boat,  Mr. 
Huggins  accompanying  them.  In  this  company  were 
the  first  white  women  who  ever  ascended  the  Min- 
nesota. The  doctor,  with  the  assistance  of  a  boy, 
came  with  the  two  horses  through  the  trackless  woods, 
camping  with  those  on  the  boat  whenever  possible. 
From  Traverse  they  at  once  proceeded  by  wagon  to 
Lac-qui-Parle. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  373 

''Here  he  established  a  permanent  mission  station 
and  preached  to  the  Indians  through  Mr.  Joseph 
Renville,  the  trader  there,  who  proved  an  earnest, 
efficient  helper.  As  Mr.  Renville  spoke  French,  but 
not  English,  the  doctor  was  compelled  to  acquire  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  French  as  a  stepping-stone  to 
a  knowledge  of  Dakota." 

From  1835  till  the  reunion  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  and  the  consequent  transfer  of  a  part  of  the 
Dakota  mission.  Dr.  Williamson  labored  under  the 
care  of  the  American  Board.  He  has  since  been 
supported  by  the  Presbyterian  Board,  and  on  one  or 
two  occasions  has  attended  the  General  Assembly  as 
a  commissioner  from  the  Dakota  Presbytery. 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  remembers  the  deep  and 
agreeable  impression  made  upon  his  mind  upon  meet- 
ing the  doctor  four  or  five  years  ago,  at  the  Synod  of 
Minnesota,  with  seventeen  Indians,  ministers  and 
elders  of  the  mission  churches.  Some  of  those  men, 
now  preachers  of  the  gospel,  had  passed  over  that  same 
ground  (Minneapolis)  on  the  war-path  with  more  of 
feathers  and  savage  accoutrements  than  of  clothing, 
and  possibly  with  a  cluster  of  scalps  at  the  belt  as 
trophies  of  their  prowess.  To  see  such  men  entering 
into  all  the  blessings  of  Christian  fellowship,  and 
counseling  together  for  the  advancement  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  enables  one  to  realize  that,  of  a  truth, 
"God  is  no  respecter  of  persons;  but  that  in  every 
nation,  he  that  feareth  him  and  worketh  righteous- 
ness is  accepted  with  him." 

The  space  allotted  to  this  hasty  sketch  precludes 
many  a  reference  which  might  properly  be  made  to 


374  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

various  experiences  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Williamson, 
which  have  been  full  of  thrilling  romance  and  of  a 
moral  heroism  seldom  equaled.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  some  pen  of  leisure  may  yet  trace  more  fully  the 
outlines  of  his  instructive  life.  His  hair-breadth 
escapes  ''  in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in 
perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,  in  perils 
in  the  wilderness,  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in 
watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,"  were  only 
second  to  those  of  the  first  great  Apostle  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. 

In  the  various  wars  between  Indian  tribes,  as  well 
as  in  struggles  between  the  Indians  and  the  forces  of 
the  United  States,  Dr.  Williamson  and  his  family 
were  often  placed  in  imminent  danger.  More  than 
once  camps  of  hostile  Sioux  were  pitched  in  plain 
sight  of  his  house.  Sometimes  he  used  precautions 
for  the  safety  of  his  family,  while  he  remained  at  his 
post;  at  other  times  he  had  to  commit  himself  and 
those  dear  to  him  to  God's  protection,  when  human 
resources  seemed  utterly  at  an  end.  At  one  time  an 
uplifted  dagger  was  averted  from  him  by  the  hand  of 
a  friend;  at  another,  an  Indian  who  had  come  to  his 
house,  with  a  concealed  weapon,  for  the  purpose  of 
killing  him,  was  overcome  by  the  kindness  with 
which  his  hunger  was  appeased.  The  man  after- 
wards became  a  convert.  In  the  difficulties  which 
occurred  between  the  Dakotas  and  the  Government, 
between  1862  and  1865,  Dr.  Williamson  shared  in  all 
the  dangers  and  anxieties  to  which  the  missionaries 
and  the  Christian  Indians  were  exposed.  At  the 
time  of  the  outbreak   he,   with   other  missionaries, 


OF  THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  37$ 

were  warned  and  saved  only  by  the  kindness  and 
help  of  friendly  Indians.  While  he  did  not  justify 
the  atrocities  which  the  enraged  tribes  committed 
upon  the  white  settlements,  yet  he  exerted  himself 
to  prevent  those  summary  acts  of  vengeance  which 
were  likely  to  be  put  forth  by  the  stronger  party  at 
such  a  time.  Over  a  hundred  had  been  condemned 
to  be  hung,  some  after  a  hasty  trial  and  upon  a  mere 
shadow  of  evidence. 

In  all  the  trying  experiences  of  this  uprising,  Dr. 
Williamson  never  lost  confidence  in  his  native  con- 
verts. He  maintained,  against  the  prevailing  senti- 
ment in  Minnesota,  that  all  the  Christian  Indians  had 
proved  faithful  to  the  whites,  even  at  the  risk  of  their 
own  lives,  and  that  they  had  saved  more  whites  from 
death  than  they  themselves  numbered. 

On  this  point  a  Minnesota  paper,  named  above, 
makes  this  frank  acknowledgment: 

''  His  belief  that  no  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
churches,  and  scarcely  any  who  had  ever  regularly 
attended  religious  services,  had  taken  part  in  the 
massacres,  though  contrary  to  the  general  belief,  has 
been  fully  confirmed  by  the  most  thorough  investi- 
gation." 

He  used  every  exertion  to  temper  the  action  not 
only  of  the  local  authorities,  but  also  of  the  U,  S. 
Government. 

He  expended  $130  of  his  own  funds  in  efforts  on  be- 
half of  the  Dakotas  at  Washington,  and  was  crowned 
with  success.  Their  sentence  was  commuted  to  a 
removal  to  the  upper  waters  of  the  Missouri. 

When  the  Indians  learned  what  their  noble  mis- 


376  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

sionary  friend  had  expended  on  their  account,  they 
resolved  to  refund  it ;  and  although  they  had  no  other 
means  open  to  them  than  that  of  making  bows  and 
arrows  and  other  trifles,  they  actually  earned  and 
paid  over  $80. 

Their  hearts  were  touched  by  kindness,  and  many 
of  them  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  The  following  picture 
of  the  scene  of  their  embarkation  for  the  Upper  Mis- 
souri is  quoted  from  a  contemporary  number  of  the 
Missionary  Herald: 

"As  darkness  shut  in  the  skies,  the  Indians  looked 
out  upon  their  native  hills,  as  they  said,  for  the  last 
time.  We  were  hardly  under  way,  however,  when, 
from  all  the  different  parts  of  the  boat  where  the 
Indians  were  collected,  we  heard  hymns  of  praise 
ascending  to  Jehovah,  not  loud,  but  soft  and  sweet, 
like  the  gentle  murmuring  of  waters.  Then  one  of 
them  led  in  prayer,  after  which  another  hymn  was 
sung;  and  so  they  continued  till  all  were  composed, 
and  drawing  their  blankets  over  them,  each  fell 
asleep.  The  next  morning  before  sunrise  they  were 
again  at  their  devotions.  So  they  continued,  evening 
and  morning,  and  these  services  were  commenced 
without  any  suggestion  from  us." 

Although  Dr.  Williamson  had  met  with  many  dis- 
couragements and  reverses;  although  in  1852  he  had 
seen  his  work  broken  up  and  his  people  forcibly  re- 
moved to  Yellow  Medicine ;  although  in  another  dec- 
ade the  outbreak  of  the  hostile  Sioux,  exasperated 
by  further  aggressions,  had  led  as  we  have  seen  to 
another  sad  interruption  of  the  work;  yet  the  laborer 
was  not  without  his  reward.      He   lived  to  see  ten 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  377 

ordained  native  preachers  engaged  in  their  work,  and 
an  aggregate  church  membership  of  800. 

And  amid  all  the  difficulties  of  laborious  frontier 
life  he  held  no  mean  rank  as  a  scholar.  Besides  his 
knowledge  of  the  French  and  the  Dakota  languages, 
he  kept  up  his  study  of  the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek, 
and  prepared  some  papers  on  the  ethnology  of  the 
aborigines  of  this  country. 

As  he  had  presided  at  the  organization  of  the  first 
church  in  Minnesota,  so  at  the  organization  of  the 
Synod  of  Minnesota  in  1858,  at  St.  Paul,  he  was 
called  to  preach  the  sermon.  Taking  his  text  from 
Deut.  8:  2,  "And  thou  shalt  remember  all  the  way 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  led  thee,"  he  gave  an 
interesting,  and  in  some  respects  thrilling,  history  of 
the  early  missionary  work  among  the  Indians  of  the 
Northwest.  After  dwelling  upon  many  scenes  of 
trial  and  danger,  and  of  want  bordering  sometimes 
on  starvation,  he  recounted  the  divine  goodness  to 
him  and  to  his  associates  in  the  following  words  of 
triumphant  faith : 

"  However  weak  and  unfaithful  we  have  been,  we 
must  testify  that  the  Lord  who  sent  us  has  faithfully 
fulfilled  to  us  all  his  promises.  When  he  has  caused 
us  to  pass  through  the  waters,  he  has  been  with  us, 
and  the  rivers,  though  deep,  have  not  overflowed  us; 
and  when  the  flaming  prairie  has  threatened  to  con- 
sume us,  we  have  walked  through  the  fire  and  have 
not  been  burnt. 

"  AVhen  we  have  called  upon  him  in  the  day  of 
trouble,  he  has  ever  shown  himself  a  God  who  hears 
and  answers  prayer. 


378  NECROLOGICAL   RFXORD 

"When  assailed  by  deadly  weapons,  a  hand  not 
ours  has  arrested  or  turned  aside  the  knife  or  arrow 
intended  to  reach  our  vitals,  and  we  have  been  kept 
from  violence,  and  enabled  to  return  good  for  evil. 
Further,  when  all  about  us  have  been  alarmed,  he 
has  fulfilled  the  promise,  '  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid 
for  the  terror  by  night;  nor  for  the  arrow  that  fiieth 
by  day;'  and  when  our  neighbors  have  been  unable 
to  sleep  protected  by  a  guard  of  armed  men,  we  have 
slept  soundly,  guarded  only  by  the  Shepherd  of 
Israel." — Foreign  Missionary^  August,  1879. 

Mrs.    Maria  Wilson. 

Mrs.  Wilson  was  born  January  21,  1832,  in  Starke 
county,  O.  In  her  twelfth  year,  her  parents  re- 
moved to  Shelby  county,  to  a  farm  near  Sidney,  in 
the  Presbyterian  church  of  which  village  her  father 
was  made  a  ruling  elder.  His  death,  in  August, 
1850,  appears  to  have  been  blessed  to  her,  and  in 
November  of  that  year  she  made  a  public  profession 
of  religion.  She  was  educated  in  part  at  the  Oxford 
Female  College,  where  she  was  graduated  with  honor 
to  herself  in  the  summer  of  1856. 

Early  in  her  Christian  course,  her  heart  became  in- 
terested in  the  sad  condition  of  the  heathen;  and 
when  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Wilson,  who  had  consecrated 
himself  to  the  mission  work,  invited  her  to  become 
his  companion  and  helper,  with  no  hesitation  but 
such  as  arose  from  her  sense  of  her  tmfitness,  she 
consented;  and  soon  afterwards,  she  cheerfully  bid  a 
farewell  that  she  felt  would  be  a  last  one  to  friends 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  379 

and  home,  to  a  widowed  mother,  and  all,  to  go  forth 
with  him  to  labor  among  the  heathen  of  Siam. 

She  reached  her  appointed  post,  and  we  are  all  wit- 
nesses how  faithfully  here  she  did  what  she  could, 
and  how  she  endeared  herself  as  a  beloved  sister  to 
all  her  associates,  by  her  uniform  cheerfulness  and 
sweetness  of  demeanor,  her  blamelessness  of  life,  her 
wise  discretion,  her  interest  in  the  spiritual  good  of 
the  heathen  around  her,  and  her  faithfulness  in  all 
the  relations  of  life.  A  little  daughter  was  given  her 
to  nestle  in  her  arms  awhile.  Before  a  twelvemonth 
had  passed,  her  little  "  Hattie  "  drooped  and  pined 
away,  and,  only  eight  short  weeks  before  herself, 
died.  A  sad  trial,  this,  to  a  young  mother,  herself 
prostrate  most  of  the  time  on  a  bed  of  sickness,  and 
unable  to  minister  to  her  suffering  child ;  but  it  was 
borne  with  sweet  submission,  and  doubtless  was 
sanctified  to  her  better  fitness  for  that  world  she  was 
so  soon  herself  to  enter,  where  God  is  seen  to  be  all 
in  all,  and  his  will,  whatever  it  be,  is  adored.  Hence- 
forth, an  uncomplaining  acquiescence  in  all  that 
might  be  ordered  for  her,  gave  new  beauty  to  the  life 
of  one  who  had  ever  been  characterized  by  a  calm, 
straightforward  pursuance  of  the  path  of  duty. 

When  it  became  evident  that  she  would  be  taken 
away  from  us,  she  was  the  first  to  speak  of  it.  She 
said  to  Mrs.  House,  who  was  sitting  with  her,  "It 
will  be  but  a  little  while."  "Dear  sister,"  replied 
Mrs.  House,  "are  you  willing  it  should  be  but  a 
little  while  ?"  She  answered,  "  Yes — any  time — any 
time,"  and  then  proceeded  to  speak  with  great  com- 
posure  of  her  death  and   burial.      Once,   when  she 


380  NECROT-OGICAL   RECORD 

vSupposcd  she  had  but  a  few  hours  to  live,  she  whis- 
pered to  her  husband,  "I  am  ^oing  to  Jesus;"  a 
heavenly  smile  lighting  up  her  countenance  with  an 
expression  he  can  never  forget.  One  Sabbath,  when 
we  all  thought  she  could  not  survive  through  the  day, 
I  asked  her  if  she  had  any  last  message  for  me  to 
give  the  Siamese,  who  would  soon  be  assembled  for 
the  morning  preaching  service.  Pausing  a  few 
minutes,  she  said,  "Tell  them  I  am  waiting  to  go 
home.  I  hope  I  shall  meet  them  all  in  heaven.  Tell 
them  the  Siamese  religion  will  not  do  for  a  dying 
bed.  Let  them  seek  the  Lord  while  he  may  be 
found,  and  not  put  it  off  to  their  dying  hour."  To  a 
friend  who  offered  to  sit  up  with  her  on  the  morrow, 
she  said,  *'  I  hope  before  that  to  be  where  there  will 
be  no  need  of  watchers."  ....  A  turn  of  distress 
ensuing,  her  husband  bowed  his  head  and  prayed, 
''Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly,"  when  she  raised  her 
trembling  arms  and  made  an  effort  to  clasp  her  hands 
as  if  in  prayer  and  said,  "  Come — come — come,"  and 
then  seemed  to  be  beckoning  till  her  hands  dropped 
exhausted,  and  we  thought  her  last  words  had  been 
spoken.  But  soon  she  raised  her  arms  again,  and 
beckoning  as  before,  said  with  a  voice,  the  strength 
of  which  surprised  us  all,  ''  They've  come;  heaven — 
sweet  music — angels — Hattie — glorified."  She  spoke 
not  again.  Her  breathing  gradually  became  more 
and  more  gentle,  till  at  3  a.m.,  July  10,  i860,  it  ceased 
and  thus  she  sweetly  fell  asleep. 

Rev.  D.  B.  Bradley,  M.D.,  conducted  the  funeral 
services,  basing  his  remarks  upon  the  text,  "  Jesus 
Christ  the  same  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever," 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  381 

which  on  one  occasion  she  had  so  impressively  quoted. 
The  children  of  the  school  were  assembled  and  many- 
natives,  so  a  part  of  Dr.  Bradley's  address  was  in 
Siamese.  The  English  and  United  States  consuls  and 
the  foreign  residents  of  Bangkok  generally  manifested 
their  respect  for  the  deceased  and  their  sympathy 
with  the  bereaved  husband  by  their  presence  on  the 
occasion,  and  in  their  boats  in  long  procession  fol- 
lowed her  remains  to  the  Protestant  cemetery,  where 
we  laid  her  down  to  rest  beside  her  little  one,  and 
near  other  sainted  dead  in  "  sure  and  certain  hope  " 
of  a  joyful  resurrection. — Rev.  S.  R.  House ^  M.D. 


Mrs.   Jonathan  Wilson  (2). 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  arrived  in  Bangkok,  Siam,  on 
his  return  from  a  visit  to  this  country  in  July,  1866, 
and  the  next  year  they  followed  the  Rev.  Mr. 
McGilvary  to  Chieng  Mai,  to  establish  a  mission 
among  the  Laos.  Mrs.  Wilson's  health  failing  after 
ten  years'  service,  they  were  obliged  to  return  to 
America,  and  Mrs.  Wilson  with  their  three  children 
found  a  home  in  Oxford,  O.,  while  her  husband,  with 
a  rare  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  returned  alone  to  pursue 
his  labors  among  the  far-off  Laos.  Her  health  had 
long  been  feeble,  and  she  died  on  the  5th  of  March, 
1885,  from  an  attack  of  apoplexy.  Kind  friends  at 
Oxford  have  undertaken  to  care  for  the  children  until 
the  wishes  and  plans  of  their  father  may  be  known. 
What  sacrifices  are  these  which  our  missionaries 
endure  for   the  sake  of  Christ   and  of  the  heathen 


382  NECROLOGICAL    RECORD 

whom  they  have  learned  to  love !  What  are  our  gifts 
throughout  the  church-at-large  in  comparison  with 
the  separation  from  each  other  which  this  husband 
and  wife  endured  for  seven  years,  that  he  might  still 
labor  on  in  behalf  of  the  unhappy  tribes  to  whom  we 
are  all  *' debtors"  as  much  as  he? — Foreign  Mis- 
sionary^ May,  1885. 

Miss  Mary  Nevius  Wilson. 

The  life  and  death  of  this  faithful  zenana  mis- 
sionary demands  more  than  a  passing  word.  Miss 
Wilson,  who  was  the  sister  of  Mr.  John  M.  Wilson, 
ruling  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  church  at  Ovid, 
N.  Y.,  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  zenana  mission 
movement  in  India.  She  sailed  from  Boston  on  the 
6th  of  July,  1868,  and,  after  spending  some  months  in 
Calcutta,  was  placed  in  charge  of  a  branch  mission  at 
Allahabad,  where  she  was  joined  in  187 1  by  Miss  S. 
C.  Seward,  M.  D.  In  1873  they  were  both  trans- 
ferred from  the  Woman's  Union  Missionary  Society 
to  the  Jumna  Mission  of  the  Presbyterian  Board. 

From  early  youth  Miss  Wilson  had  desired  to  be  a 
missionary,  and  to  this  work  she  felt  specially  called. 
Tourists  from  this  country,  among  whom  were  Drs. 
Prime  and  Field,  have  spoken  in  high  terms  of  Miss 
Wilson's  work  in  the  zenanas  of  Allahabad;  and  the 
earnest  enthusiasm  of  educated  natives  has  been 
aroused  by  the  manifest  usefulness  of  her  career. 

Sir  William  Muir,  late  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the 
Northwest  Provinces,  showed  her  marked  tokens  of 
his  appreciation.      Miss  Wilson's  work  was  almost 


OF   THE    BOARD    OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  3.^3 

entirely  that  of  visitation,  an  emplo3mient  which 
greatly  taxed  her  physical  powers.  That  her  attain- 
ments and  qualifications  weie  good  is  attested  by  the 
fact  that  a  Hindu  gentleman  (a  judge  in  one  of  the 
courts)  took  pains  to  say  to  her,  not  long  since,  how 
pleased  he  was  to  hear  her  use  the  Bengali  language 
with  so  perfect  a  pronunciation  that  he  would  have 
thought  her  one  of  his  own  people  had  he  not  known 
who  it  was.  Her  w^ork,  which  was  constantly  increas- 
ing and  of  great  interest,  wore  upon  her;  but  she 
could  not  bear  to  leave  it  so  long  as  there  were  none 
to  take  her  place. 

In  a  recent  letter  to  her  friends  she  thus  expressed 
her  fears  at  the  risk  which  she  was  running:  "The 
hot  winds  are  beginning  to  blow.  I  never  had  so 
much  dread  of  the  hot  months  as  I  feel  this  year;  and 
I  am  not  sure  that  it  was  wise  for  me  to  stay  in  the 
plains  just  now;  but  I  could  not  bear  to  leave  my 
women ;  and  no  one  is  being  sent  out  to  fill  up  our 
diminished  ranks.  One  after  another  goes,  but  no 
one  comes." 

The  fears  thus  expressed  were  realized  sooner  than 
she  had  anticipated.  A  sense  of  weariness  gradually 
developed  into  the  deadly  typhus,  and  some  special 
symptoms  which  appeared  heralded  her  speedy  de- 
parture, which  occurred  on  24th  May,  1879. 

A  recent  letter  from  Miss  Seward  says  of  her: 
''  The  expressions  of  regret  and  condolence  for  Miss 
Wilson  have  been  very  general  and  sincere.  I  don't 
think  there  has  ever  been  a  missionary  in  Allahabad 
who  was  more  thoroughly  esteemed  and  admired. 
At  a  funeral  service  for  a  member  of  his  own  church, 


384  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

a  few  days  after  her  death,  the  Enghsh  chaplain 
spoke  of  her  as  one  whose  Hfe  had  always  seemed 
to  him  that  of  a  saint.  I  was  not  present,  but  friends 
have  told  me  that  while  he  spoke  of  her  the  tears 
stole  down  his  face.  It  has  been  too  hot  to  visit  the 
zenanas,  but  those  of  her  women  whom  I  have  seen, 
burst  into  tears  at  the  mention  of  her  name." 

The  writer  of  this  brief  sketch  cannot  forbear  to 
add  his  own  testimony  of  her  great  worth.  In  the 
winter  of  1874  and  '75,  when  he  and  his  wife  visited 
Allahabad,  they  were  the  recipients  of  peculiar  kind- 
ness from  Miss  Wilson,  not  only  while  enjoying  her 
hospitality,  but  upon  a  journey  which  they  made  to  a 
mission  meeting  at  Saharanpur.  Their  ignorance  of 
what  was  requisite  to  comfort  on  such  a  journey,  was 
fully  compensated  by  the  considerateness  and  quiet 
preparations  of  Miss  Wilson,  who  seemed  to  think 
less  of  herself  than  of  others.  The  image  of  her 
kindly  face,  and  the  echoes  of  her  gentle  words,  will 
never  be  forgotten.  We  remember  also  the  hiorh 
consideration  in  which  she  appeared  to  be  held  by 
the  cultivated  natives  in  Allahabad,  upon  some  of 
whom  we  had  the  pleasure  of  calling  with  her. 

Miss  Wilson  stands  as  a  fair  representative  of  that 
modern  form  of  usefulness  known  as  zenana  work. 
Would  that  thousands  of  our  American  women, 
equally  cultivated,  equally  genial,  sensible,  well- 
balanced,  faithful  and  devoted,  might  carry  the  light 
of  sympathy  and  love,  even  the  love  of  Christ,  the 
only  Saviour,  into  the  dark  homes  of  benighted  India. 
— Foreign  Missionary^  September,  1879. 


of  the  board  of  foreign  missions.  385 

Rev.   Thomas  Wilson. 

Mr.  Wilson,  of  the  mission  in  Liberia,  died  Sep- 
tember 3,  1846.  His  death  is  a  great  loss  to  the 
church  and  to  Africa.  His  experience  (as  a  colored 
man  especially)  and  knowledge,  his  industry  and  per- 
severance, fitted  him  for  usefulness  in  this  important 
sphere  of  duty. — Annual  Report^  1847. 


Rev.   James  Wilson. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  born  and  brought  up  in  Western 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Jefferson 
College  and  Allegheny  Seminary.  He  arrived  in 
India  with  his  wife  and  with  Rev.  John  Newton  and 
his  wife  in  1835.  He  returned  to  this  country  with 
his  family  in  185 1.  He  expected  to  go  back  to  his 
chosen  field,  but  was  providentially  led  to  remain  in 
his  native  land  and  continued  in  the  work  of  the 
ministry  till  he  died  February  13,  1884,  at  Tyler, 
Tex.,  while  on  a  visit  to  one  of  his  sons,  in  the  eighty- 
second  year  of  his  age.  He  was  greatly  respected 
and  beloved  as  a  missionary.  He  was  thoughtful, 
forecasting,  laborious,  self-den5dng,  truly  consecrated. 
As  he  was  much  above  the  ordinary  grade  of  intellect 
and  of  unusual  insight  as  to  Hindu  character  and 
life,  his  leaving  the  work  in  which  he  delighted  was 
a  real  sorrow  to  himself  and  a  serious  loss  to  the 
mission.  His  last  illness  was  of  but  a  week's  con- 
tinuance, and  his  departure  from  this  life  was  emi- 
nently peaceful.  It  was  touching  to  see  the  bent  of 
his  mind  in  these  last  days.      ''  India  was  the  one 


386  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

place  to  which  his  thoughts  unconsciously  turned, 
and  in  the  delirium  of  fever,  or  even  when  free  from 
fever,  he  was  conversing  with  the  Moolas  or  Muftis, 
or  affectionately  inquiring  about  *  the  native  breth- 
ren. '  "  Mrs.  Wilson  survives  him  at  an  advanced  age, 
and  four  sons,  two  of  whom  are  respected  ministers 
of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church. — Record^  April, 


Mrs.  James  Wilson. 

Mrs.  Wilson  died  October  29,  1886.  One  of  her 
sons  sent  from  McConnellsville,  S.  C. ,  the  following 
touching  note :  i 

'*On  the  29th  of  last  month  (October,  1886)  our 
dear  mother,  your  old  friend  and  the  wife  of  your 
fellow-missionary  in  India,  died.  On  her  death-bed 
she  directed  a  ten-dollar  bill,  to  be  found  in  her  Bible, 
to  be  sent  to  the  Assembly's  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
expressing  herself  as  feeling  under  many  obligations 
to  that  Board  for  kindness  received  at  their  hands. 
The  gift  is  a  small  one,  but  yet  large  in  the  circum- 
stances. It  is  the  offering  of  a  widow  who  spent 
seventeen  of  the  best  years  of  her  life  as  a  foreign 
missionary,  and  is  simply  her  dying  effort  to  further 
the  cause  she  loved  so  well.  Her  death,  like  her 
life,  was  brave,  calm  and  trustful,  and  undimmed  by 
even  a  momentary  obscuration  of  faith." — Record^ 
December,  1886. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  387 

Rev.    Frank  A.  Wood. 

The  following  extract  of  a  letter  dated  July  21, 
1878,  from  Rev.  J.  S.  Dennis,  pays  a  just  and  heart- 
felt tribute  to  a  noble  fellow-missionary : 

"The  brethren  of  our  mission  are  engaged  in  a  sad 
duty  to-day.  As  I  write,  the  funeral  services  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Wood  are  being  conducted  in  Beirut.  He  died 
in  Aleih  yesterday,  July  20,  at  4  p.m.  His  sickness 
has  been  a  painful  one,  and  it  is  now  nearly  two 
months  since  he  became  ill.  Early  in  his  illness  he 
was  brought  to  Beirut  that  he  might  receive  more 
prompt  and  constant  medical  attendance  than  was 
possible  at  his  home  on  Mt.  Lebanon.  His  disease 
has  baffled  the  most  watchful  attention  and  skillful 
efforts  of  Dr.  Post,  who,  with  Dr.  Van  Dyck  in  con- 
sultation, has  been  unremitting  in  his  kind  services. 
Less  than  a  week  ago  (July  16)  he  was  brought  to 
this  mountain  village,  which  can  be  reached  by  the 
carriage  road,  in  the  hope  that  the  mountain  air 
might  prove  some  benefit.  His  wife  had  prepared  a 
quiet  home  for  him  here  and  awaited  his  arrival ;  but, 
alas !  she  could  simply  minister  to  him  in  his  dying 
hours.  No  mortal  skill  could  stay  the  dread  ravages 
of  his  disease,  whose  fatal  progress  was  attended  by 
great  distress  and  suffering.  He  gave  a  clear  and 
cheerful  testimony  of  the  sustaining  grace  of  God  and 
of  his  faith  and  hope  in  Christ  which  failed  him  not 
in  his  hour  of  trial.  His  patience  and  cheerfulness, 
and  his  consecration  to  his  work,  are  a  lesson  to  us 
all.  It  is  now  seven  years  since  he  came  to  Syria. 
During  his  residence  of  a  year  or  two  at  Sidon,  he 


388  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

acquired  the  language  with  facility  and  with  scholarly 
accuracy,  and  began  his  active  missionary  life  upon 
his  subsequent  removal  to  Zahleh.  He  labored  be- 
tween two  and  three  years  at  the  latter  place,  and 
then  removed  to  Abeih  to  take  charge  of  the  Abeih 
Academy,  the  position  which  Mr.  Calhoun  had  filled 
so  ably  and  faithfully  during  his  long  life  in  Syria. 
To  this  work  he  gave  himself  with  all  his  energy, 
perseverance  and  consecration.  He  loved  teaching, 
and  his  superior  attainments  in  the  natural  sciences 
and  excellent  command  of  the  language  gave  him 
special  qualifications  to  instruct.  His  care  for  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  his  students  was  a  marked  feature 
in  his  usefulness.  Interesting  religious  awakenings 
occurred  among  the  students  under  his  charge,  and 
numbers  were  converted  through  his  personal  agency. 
His  missionary  work  was  to  him  no  burden  to  be 
wearily  borne,  but  it  was  his  life's  joy  and  ambition. 
Physically,  he  was  the  strongest  and  most  buoyant  of 
our  mission  band.  The  distress  and  weakness  and 
pain  of  his  last  sickness  were  new  experiences  to 
him,  as  he  had  hardly  seen  a  sick  day  in  his  life. 

*'  His  daily  prayer  was  for  patience  and  grace  to 
bear,  and  how  well  he  succeeded  in  controlling  the 
restlessness  of  a  strong  man  in  his  first  and  most  try- 
ing illness,  may  be  inferred  from  a  remark  of  good 
sister  Sophie  of  the  German  Hospital,  who  nursed 
him  in  Beirut.     She  said,    '  He  is  too  patient  to  live. '  " 

The  following  minute  was  passed  by  the  Syrian 
Mission,  August  14: 

''We  are  a  sorely  stricken  mission.  Again  has  the 
Lord  laid  upon  us  his  afflictive  hand  and  taken  away 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  389 

one  of  the  strongest,  youngest  and  most  useful  of  our 
number. 

*'  Rev.  Frank  A.  Wood  slept  in  Jesus  on  the  20th  of 
last  July,  1878,  taken  away  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
three,  after  less  than  seven  years  spent  in  the  mission 
field.  He  had,  to  an  unusual  degree,  won  the  re- 
spect, esteem  and  affection  of  all  who  came  in  con- 
tact with  him.  While  he  '  rests  from  his  labors,  his 
works'  emphatically  'do  follow'  him.  He  was  emi- 
nently fitted  for  labor  in  the  missionary  field.  To 
fine  natural  abilities  and  large  acquirements,  were 
added  remarkable  amiability  and  most  earnest  piety. 
In  the  performance  of  his  duties  he  was  unwearied, 
persevering,  hopeful.  He  united  in  an  unusual  de- 
gree faith,  prayer  and  the  most  assiduous  use  of 
means. 

' '  The  affection  of  the  people  for  him  was  striking, 
especially  that  of  the  pupils  of  the  Abeih  Academy, 
of  v\rhich  he  was  for  three  years  the  principal.  The 
sorrow  occasioned  by  his  death  is  widespread  and 
sincere. 

*'  By  the  mission  his  loss  is  most  keenly  felt.  We 
are,  indeed,  called  upon  to  '  humble  ourselves  under 
the  mighty  hand  of  God.' 

' '  To  the  bereaved  widow  we  would  express  the 
deepest  and  tenderest  sympathy,  and  commend  her 
to  the  only  true  source  of  comfort,  praying  that  the 
Lord  may  graciously  sustain  her  with  his  everlasting 
arms,  and  supply  her  from  his  infinite  fullness. " — 
Foreign  Missionary^  October,  1878. 


390  necrological  record 

Miss  Jennie  Woodside. 

The  sorrowful  event  of  the  mission  year,  1886-7, 
at  Futtehgurh,  India,  was  the  death  of  Miss  Wood- 
side,  February  3,  1887,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  S. 
Woodside,  a  lady  of  singular  devotedness,  of  supe- 
rior qualifications  for  her  work  as  a  missionary,  and 
held  in  the  highest  esteem  by  all  the  members  of  our 
missions  and  others.  Her  closing  hours  were,  in  har- 
mony with  her  beautiful  life,  full  of  peace. — Annual 
Report,  1887. 

Mrs.  John  S.  Woodside. 

The  death  of  Mrs.  Woodside  withdraws  from  ser- 
vice here  to  her  rest  in  heaven  one  of  the  best  Chris- 
tian women — one  long  respected  and  esteemed  as  a 
faithful  and  devoted  missionary.  She  died  in  London 
at  the  house  of  a  married  daughter,  where  she  had 
gone  for  her  health  not  long  after  she  had  heard  of 
the  death  of  her  missionary  daughter,  Jennie,  in 
India.  Her  husband  had  joined  her  some  weeks 
before  she  died.  Mr.  Woodside  then,  after  a  short 
visit  to  this  country,  returned  to  his  former  station, 
doubly  bereaved,  but  with  renewed  consecration  to 
his  work. — Anmial  Report^  1888, 

Rev.  Asher  Wright. 

The  God  of  missions  has  visited  us  with  a  very 
great  affliction  in  the  death  of  our  most  esteemed 
brother,  the  Rev.  Asher  Wright.     He  was  born  in 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  39I 

Hanover,   N.    H.,    September   7,   1803,    and   ''born 
again  "  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years. 

Graduating  from  Andover  in  183 1,  he  gave  him- 
self to  the  Lord  for  labor  among  the  heathen.  The 
American  Board  were  then  desirous  of  increasing 
the  number  of  their  laborers  among  the  American 
Indians,  but  young  graduates  were  slow  in  consent- 
ing to  bury  their  talents  by  living  and  dying  with 
races  that  were  so  evidently  doomed  to  speedy  and 
utter  extinction.  Many  would  not  indulge  the 
thought  of  laboring  with  any  people  through  whose 
posterity  they  could  not  hope  to  transmit  their  influ- 
ence for  good  to  all  coming  time.  But  Mr.  Wright, 
with  as  glorious  a  future  before  him  as  any  one,  if  he 
would  only  invite  it,  with  talents  capable  of  being 
cultivated  to  a  very  high  degree,  said,  ''  Here  am  I; 
send  me."  He  was  not  ignorant  of  his  powers;  he 
knew  that,  with  the  continued  blessing  of  God,  he 
was  capable  of  becoming  a  luminary  among  orientals, 
or  even  among  the  metropolitans  of  his  native 
country.  Yet,  such  was  his  pity  for  the  poor  Indians 
— such  his  humility — his  micekness — his  benevolence 
— his  unselfishness — his  condescension  to  people  of 
low  degree — his  willingness,  yea,  his  determination 
to  ''take  the  lowest  room,"  and  appear  as  the  least 
of  all  the  apostles,  that  he  accepted  an  appointment 
to  this  mission  and  identified  himself  with  one  of  the 
most  hated  people  of  the  earth.  His  divine  Master 
was  taunted  with  being  a  "friend  of  sinners,"  and 
gloried  in  it.  Like  him,  Mr.  Wright  was  jeeringly 
called  a  "friend  of  Indians,"  and  gloried  in  it.  He 
was,  however,  a  man  of  so  much  good-will  to  every- 


392  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

body,  as  to  avoid  personal  insult,  or  so  repel  attacks 
as  to  render  them  harmless.  Everybody  loved  him, 
even  those  who  abused  him.  He  occupied  the  hum- 
ble sphere  which  he  accepted  in  his  youth,  for  more 
than  forty-three  years — yea,  he  occupied  it  until  the 
Master  came  and  bade  him  "  come  up  higher,"  which 
occurred  Tuesday,  April  13,  1875. 

Mr.  Wright  was  the  only  male  missionary  who 
ever  acquired  anything  like  a  satisfactory  knowledge 
of  Seneca.  He  labored  long  to  bring  forth  a  Seneca 
hymn-book,  and  a  translation  of  the  gospels,  that 
would  be  approved  by  future  educated  generations. 
The  hymn-book  has  been  in  use  for  considerable 
time,  but  his  gospels  had  just  been  introduced,  and 
he  was  arranging  to  have  the  people  taught  to  read, 
and  to  have  readers  employed  to  go  from  house  to 
house,  when  the  angel  of  death  arrived.  He  obeyed 
the  call,  willingly,  no  doubt,  though  leaving  unfin- 
ished his  translation  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  upon 
which  he  had  spent  much  of  his  waning  strength. 
Possibly,  Mrs.  Wright,  who  is  supposed  to  have  even 
a  better  knowledge  of  the  Seneca  language  than  her 
husband  had,  will  finish  it,  thus  "supplying  his  lack 
of  service."  Mr.  Wright's  last  work  was  to  go  to 
Albany  in  behalf  of  the  asylum,  a  home  for  the 
orphan  and  destitute  children  of  the  Indians  upon 
the  New  York  Reservations.  After  leaving  the  cars 
on  his  return  from  Albany,  he  was  so  sick  as  to  re- 
quire the  support  of  two  loving  friends — one  on  each 
side  with  arms  around  him,  thus  sustaining  and 
steadying  him  in  his  carriage,  until  he  reached  his 
room,  where  he  was  to  lie  down  to  die.     After  his 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  393 

arrival  at  his  home  he  lived  several  days,  but  most 
of  the  time  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  he  re- 
tained his  breath.  Toward  the  last,  his  mind  seemed 
to  wander  all  the  time.  Thinking  that  the  cloud 
upon  his  intellect  might  be  owing  to  a  certain  medi- 
cine which  he  was  taking,  Mrs.  Wright,  not  being 
willing  that  he  should  thus  die,  withheld  it,  but  to 
no  effect — hence  the  sentences  that  fell  from  his 
lips  were  seemingly  incoherent,  yet  some  of  them 
are  precious  in  the  memory  of  surviving  friends. 
One  was,  "They  don't  sing  enough,  they  don't 
sing  enough."  Another  was,  "You  have  a  crown — 
don't  let  it  get  tarnished."  Pursuant  to  his  request, 
Mr.  Wright  was  buried  among  the  graves  of  his 
Indian  brethren  who  went  before  him  to  glory.  He 
was  the  oldest  man  and  the  oldest  missionary  among 
us,  having  labored  here  more  than  forty-three  years 
— always  seeing  something  noble  in  the  Red-man, 
while  others  could  see  nothing  but  treachery  and 
meanness.  May  the  afflicted  and  bereaved  widow  be 
sustained  and  comforted  by  the  sympathy  and  prayers 
of  the  friends  of  missions  everywhere,  and  may  God 
assure  her  that  when  her  earthly  house  of  this  taber- 
nacle is  dissolved  she  has  a  building  of  God,  a  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. — Rev. 
W.  Hall. 

Mrs.   Asher  Wright. 

Mrs.  Wright,  who  had  been  connected  with  the 
Seneca  Mission  fifty-three  years,  died  January  21, 
1886.     Since  the  death  of  her  husband,  which  oc- 


396  NECROLOGICAL   RECOIIU 

against  which  the  medical  skill  available  could  not 
provide  set  in,  and  on  June  i,  Mrs.  Wright  breathed 
her  last.  By  means  of  the  prompt  and  efficient  ser- 
vices of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Pratt,  the  United  States 
minister  to  Persia,  and  Colonel  Stewart,  the  English 
consul  at  Tabriz,  the  murderer  was  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned at  Tabriz, 

The  following  tribute  is  from  the  pen  of  Rev.  B. 
Labaree,  D.  D. ,  of  our  Western  Persia  mission : 

' '  The  death  of  Mrs.  Wright,  of  Salmas,  has  given 
us  a  terrible  shock,  one  we  shall  not  soon  recover 
from.  Under  any  circumstances  her  loss  would  have 
filled  us  with  sorrow;  but  the  terrible  crime  by  which 
her  life  has  been  sacrificed  has  intensified  our  grief 
immeasurably. 

"  Mrs.  Wright  was  the  daughter  of  Kasha  Oshana 
and  Sawa ;  the  former  for  many  years  a  preacher  in 
Koordistan,  or  a  highly  esteemed  teacher  in  our  col- 
lege, while  Sawa  was  one  of  the  first  of  Miss  Fiske's 
pupils,  and  has  ever  been  one  of  our  most  devoted 
and  beloved  Christian  sisters.  Shushan,  as  we  used 
to  call  her  by  her  sweet  Syriac  name,  spent  much  of 
her  early  life  in  the  wild  mountains  of  Koordistan, 
where  she  breathed  in  the  free  mountain  air  and  the 
spirit  of  self-reliance  and  independence  so  charac- 
teristic of  the  mountain  Nestorians;  an  independence, 
however,  in  her  case,  that  through  wise  parental 
training  and  the  influence  of  divine  grace  was  brought 
under  excellent  control.  I  shall  never  forget  a  jour- 
ney I  made  with  her  family  and  a  large  party  of  mis- 
sionaries and  native  preachers  through  the  mountains 
towards  Oroomiah.     She  was    then  almost    woman 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  397 

grown,  as  full  of  life  and  grace  as  a  bird,  fearless  and 
active  and  self-helpful  over  those  terrible  roads,  and 
in  the  midst  of  dangers  from  robbers,  Christian  and 
Koordish.  When  our  camp  was  assailed  by  our  own 
Nestorian  muleteers  and  our  equipage  seized  with 
the  most  angry  demonstrations  of  fire-arms,  Shushan 
flew  swiftly  up  the  mountain  side  after  them,  threw 
herself  upon  them,  and  as  others  of  our  party  joined 
in  the  efforts  to  calm  the  turbulent  fellows,  she 
quietly  wrested  one  and  another's  gun  from  his  hand 
and  brought  it  to  the  camp.  We  learned  to  admire 
her  bravery  and  tact  on  this  tour  as  we  never  could 
have  done  in  her  home  or  her  school. 

"  Mrs.  Wright  had  been  in  our  female  seminary 
from  time  to  time,  and  showed  peculiar  aptitude  for 
acquiring  learning  and  culture.  Later  on  she  became 
a  teacher  in  an  orphanage  conducted  by  some  Eng- 
lish ladies  here,  and  later  still  v/as  an  assistant  to  the 
mission  girls'  school  in  Tabriz.  She  everywhere  won 
in  an  exceptional  degree  the  love  and  confidence  of 
those  with  whom  she  was  associated.  We  rejoiced  in 
her  as  one  of  the  choicest  fruits  of  divine  training 
through  mission  teaching.  She  reflected  new  interest 
upon  her  people. 

"In  the  year  1885  she  was  married  to  Rev.  J.  N. 
Wright,  of  Ohio,  his  second  wife,  and  settled  with 
him  in  Salmas,  taking  a  personal  share  in  the  mis- 
sionary work  from  the  outset.  In  the  year  1888  she 
accompanied  her  husband  to  America,  and  only  re- 
turned last  fall.  All  who  have  known  her  since  her 
return  testify  to  her  growing  interest  and  activity  in 
the  Master's  cause.     As  far  as  the  care  of  her  little 


398  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

family  would  permit,  she  was  assiduous  in  holding 
meetings  for  the  women,  visiting  in  their  families, 
teaching  a  Bible  class  on  the  Sabbath,  etc.  The 
native  pastor  of  the  Oolah  church  is  warm  in  his 
commendation  of  her  helpful  influence  the  past 
months. 

"  In  Mrs.  Wright's  illness,  in  consequence  of  this 
most  wanton,  unprovoked  assault  upon  her  life,  she 
showed  a  wonderful  degree  of  fortitude  and  patience, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  most  sweet  and  forgiving 
spirit  in  regard  to  her  assailant.  '  If  I  die,'  she  re- 
marked one  day,  '  I  shall  go  to  heaven ;  but  if  he 
dies  his  soul  is  lost  forever. '  Her  Christian  character 
shone  out  brightly  to  the  last.  We  can  well  believe 
that  her  remark  to  Mrs.  Shedd,  who  visited  her  on  her 
way  through  Salmas,  was  true :  '  All  is  light  about 
me.'" — The  CJmrch  at  Home  and  Abroad^  October, 
1890. 


Rev.   John  Newton  Young, 

''Young,  dead,  small-pox,"  was  the  brief  but 
startling  cable  dispatch  which  announced  to  us  the 
death  of  the  Rev.  John  Newton  Young,  Jr.,  of  our 
Peking  Mission.  The  sad  event  occurred  February 
18,  1893.  Mr.  Young  was  a  graduate  of  Park  Col- 
lege and  of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary.  He 
entered  upon  his  missionary  work  in  the  autumn 
of  1 89 1,  full  of  hope  and  giving  large  promise  of 
effective  service  for  Christ.  His  death  will  be  deeply 
mourned  by  the  mission,  not  only  because  a  brother 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  399 

beloved  has  been  taken,  but  because  it  leaves  the 
mission,  already  sorely  depleted  in  its  force,  sadly 
crippled.  Who  of  the  sons  of  Park  College,  or  of 
Princeton  Seminary,  will  take  the  place  of  their  fallen 
brother  ? — Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^  April,  1893. 


Rev.   G.   W.   Coan,   D.D.* 

The  Rev.  George  Whitfield  Coan,  D.D.,  of  the 
mission  to  Persia,  died  at  his  home  in  Wooster,  O. , 
December  21,  1879.  Dr.  Coan  joined  the  Nestorian 
Mission  in  1849.  At  that  time  it  was  composed  of 
Drs.  Perkins  and  Wright  (M.D.),  and  Messrs.  Stock- 
ing, Stoddard,  Cochrane  and  Breath,  with  their 
wives,  and  Misses  Fiske  and  Rice,  in  charge  of  the 
female  seminary.  All  of  these  brethren  and  Miss 
Fiske  have  preceded  him  by  several  years  into  the 
rest  and  rewards  of  heaven. 

At  that  time,  also,  the  influence  of  the  memorable 
revival  that  visited  Oroomiah  in  1846  had  spread  into 
the  lower  and  eastern  districts  of  the  Koordish  moun- 
tains. Almost  immediately  on  his  arrival  Mr.  Coan 
engaged  in  tours  into  the  mountain  regions  of  Koor- 
distan,  and  in  185 1  he  and  Mrs.  Coan,  in  company 
with  Mr.  Rhea,  who  arrived  in  Persia  in  1850,  pro- 
ceeded to  Menrikau,  a  miserable  little  village  in 
Gawar,  there  to  spend  the  winter,  in  the  midst  of 
discomforts  which  cannot  be  described,  nor  even 
imagined.  In  the  wretchedness  and  filth  of  the 
native  houses,  the  roughness  and  ignorance  of  most 

■^  Omitted  in  the  alphabetical  order. 


400  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

of  the  inhabitants — especially  the  women — the  low, 
ding-y,  smoke-stained  walls  of  mud,  the  scanty  light, 
buried  for  months  beneath  the  heavy  mountain  snows 
and  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  their  asso- 
ciates in  Persia,  they  labored  with  content  and  true 
devotion. 

Dr.  Coan's  work  was  not  in  education,  nor  in  trans- 
lating, but  in  what  might  be  called  field  work.  He 
labored  among  the  churches  where  his  memory  is 
fresh  in  many  minds  and  hearts.  He  was  emphatic- 
ally a  man  among  men.  With  a  large  field,  embrac- 
ing many  villages  widely  scattered,  and  having  at 
different  times  the  oversight  of  many  helpers  and  the 
care  of  many  churches;  making  frequent  and  long, 
and  often  dangerous  tours  in  the  mountains  of  Koor- 
distan  and  beyond,  as  well  as  upon  the  plains  of 
Persia,  he  was  everywhere  and  always  the  laborious, 
indefatigable,  earnest  bishop  of  the  infant  churches 
and  the  preacher  of  the  word. 

And  for  this  work  he  had  special  qualifications. 
Of  fluent  and  even  rapid  utterance,  and  with  a  more 
than  usually  correct  knowledge  and  use  of  the  S3^riac 
language,  he  was  an  impressive  and  often  eloquent 
speaker.  In  sympathizing  with  pastors  and  people 
in  their  burdens  from  poverty  and  the  manifold  op- 
pressions and  extortions  to  which  they  were  subject, 
his  tenderness  of  heart  was  conspicuous.  Having 
been  associated  with  him  in  some  of  his  tours,  I  re- 
member well  his  earnest  and  often  impassioned  utter- 
ances, his  solemn  warnings  and  tender  appeals,  his 
skillful  questionings  and  fatherly  counsels.  Without 
the   special    tastes    and,   perhaps,    also  without    the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  40I 

Special  aptitudes  of  the  student  and  scholar,  he  was 
eminently  the  "Soldier  of  the  Cross,"  brave  yet 
tender.  For  years  he  bore  the  burden  of  physical 
infirmity,  as  well  as  the  heat  of  the  day  and  the  strife. 
No  man  will  ever  know  how  much  of  pain,  distress 
and  weariness  he  mastered  and  kept  under,  in  order 
that  he  might  accomplish  the  ministry  which  he  had 
received  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  In  1862  he  was  com- 
pelled to  seek  rest  by  returning-  to  his  native  country, 
and  again  in  1875.  Yet  since  his  return  he  has  ac- 
complished, through  sheer  force  of  resolute  will  and 
devotion  to  the  cause  to  which  he  had  given  his  life, 
an  amount  of  labor  that  would  have  severely  taxed 
the  soundest  mind  in  the  soundest  body.  In  some- 
thing like  two  years  he  traveled,  in  visiting  the 
churches,  chiefly  in  the  West,  more  than  25,000 
miles,  and  spoke  on  an  average,  in  behalf  of  missions, 
more  than  fourteen  times  a  week.  No  wonder  that 
he  was  compelled  at  last  to  find,  in  death,  the  rest  he 
needed,  but  found  it  impossible  to  take  in  life. 

Many  hearts  will  feel  the  wound,  and  many  tears 
will  fall,  in  the  villages  of  the  plain  of  Oroomiah  and 
the  valleys  of  Koordistan,  when  it  is  known  in  those 
far-off  regions  that  Coan  Sahib  has  passed  away. 

"Servant  of  God,  well  done  ! 
Rest  from  thy  loved  employ  : 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 
Enter  thy  Master's  joy. ' ' 

—Rev,  Henry  M.  Cobb,  D.D. 


APPENDIX. 


Mr.   Fullerton's  Narrative  of    Events  at 
futtehgurh. 

Destruction  of  Mission  Property  at  Mynpurie  and 
FuttengurJi — Distress  of  the  Native  Christians^ 
and  their  Steadfastness  in  the  Faith  —  The 
Voyage,  Capture  and  Death  of  the  FiitteJigiirh 
Missionaries. 

Hardly  ever  have  we  read  a  more  affecting  Pxarra- 
tive  than  is  contained  in  the  three  following-  letters. 
We  lay  them  before  our  readers  without  any  com- 
ments on  them,  which  indeed  would  be  out  of  place. 
We  trust  they  will  be  read  by  every  member  of  our 
church,  and  they  will  surely  awaken  mingled  and 
deep  emotions  of  sorrow  and  of  thanksgiving.  — Fditor 
F.  M. 

FuTTEHGURH,  January  i8,  1858. 

My  Dear :  Before  this  reaches  you,  you  will 

have  heard  of  the  reoccupation  of  this  place  by  the 
English.  A  feeble  effort  was  made  by  the  Nawab  at 
Bhuda-gunj,  some  miles  from  this,  to  stay  their 
triumphant  progress,  but  the  bridge  across  the  Kala 
Nadi,  which  he  had  partly  destroyed,  was  soon  re- 
paired by  the  troops  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell.     The 


404  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Nawab  was  driven  from  his  position  with  the  loss  of 
his  guns,  his  troops  were  thoroughly  disorganized, 
and  many  of  them  were  slain  in  the  rout  which 
ensued. 

On  reaching  the  city  the  Nawab  set  fire  to  his  palace, 
and  then  fled  across  the  Ganges,  and  soon  after,  the 
English  took  possession  of  the  station. 

With  the  army  a  number  of  our  native  Christians, 
who  had  found  their  way  to  Cawnpore,  returned;  and 
as  they  found  that  there  was  no  one  here  to  take  an 
interest  in  them,  they  wrote  to  Agra  asking  one  of  us 
to  come  over,  intimating  at  the  same  time  that  a  large 
amount  of  mission  property  might  be  recovered  if  one 
of  us  would  come  over  at  once.  On  the  receipt  of 
this  letter,  it  was  decided  that  I  should  come ;  but  how 
to  get  here  was  the  question.  The  road  between 
Agra  and  this  place  was  not  considered  safe,  and  we 
could  hear  of  no  escort  coming  this  way.  While  dis- 
cussing this  matter,  we  heard  that  our  old  friend  Mr. 
Raikes  had  been  invited  to  join  the  camp  of  the  com- 
mander-in-chief, as  civil  commissioner.  On  hearing 
that  I  wished  to  come  to  Futtehgurh,  he  offered  me 
a  seat  in  his  private  carriage ;  thus  adding  to  the  long 
list  of  obligations  under  which  he  has  laid  me  since  I 
came  to  India.  We  left  Agra  on  the  15th  inst.,  with 
an  escort  of  four  Sikh  horsemen  well  armed.  These 
were  changed  at  the  police  stations  along  the  road. 
We  reached  Mynpurie  a  little  after  dark  of  the  same 
day,  where  we  put  up  with  Mr.  Boldero,  the  magis- 
trate and  collector  of  the  district  (and  a  member  of 
our  church  in  Agra).  We  found  the  joint  magistrate, 
Mr.  Chaise,  and  him  living  together  in  a  house  much 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  405 

the  worse  for  the  recent  outbreak.  There  was  not  a 
door  or  window  in  it;  and  half  of  the  building  had 
no  other  roof  than  the  blue  vault  of  heaven,  studded 
with  brilliant  stars,  which  poured  a  flood  of  light 
upon  us  from  a  cloudless  sky.  When  I  arose  in  the 
morning  I  found  that  we  were  in  an  intrenched  posi- 
tion, where  half  a  dozen  Englishmen  held  the  district 
and  governed  it  by  means  of  native  officials,  long 
after  surrounding  districts  had  become  scenes  of 
anarchy  and  confusion;  but  the  place  at  length  be- 
came too  hot  for  them,  and  they  had  to  take  refuge 
in  the  fort  at  Agra.  Bad  as  the  magistrate's  house 
is,  it  is  the  best  in  the  place;  the  rest  are  so  badly 
injured  that  it  will  be  difficult  if  not  impossible  to  re- 
pair them. 

At  an  early  hour  I  started  in  search  of  Hulas  Roy, 
one  of  our  catechists,  and  the  head  master  of  the  city 
school.  The  road  which  I  took  led  me  through  the 
Mission  Compound.  This  was  my  first  home  in 
India,  and  a  happy  one  it  was.  I  approached  it,  as  I 
have  always  done  when  I  have  returned  to  it,  with 
feelings  of  much  interest;  but  alas!  how  changed. 
The  roof  of  half  of  the  rooms  has  fallen  in,  and  the 
timbers  sustaining  the  remainder  in  the  other  rooms 
have  been  so  weakened  by  fire  that  some  of  them  will 
probably  have  to  be  taken  down ;  the  walls  are  black, 
and  some  of  them  are  almost  ready  to  fall;  the 
grounds  about  the  buildings  have  become  a  jungle, 
and  the  whole  place  wears  a  most  desolate  appear- 
ance. The  little  church  is  still  standing;  but  nothing 
but  the  shell  remains.  The  schoolhouse  near  the 
city  is  in  a  pretty  good  state  of  repair.     The  reason 


4o6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

of  this  is,  that  the  Rajah  seized  it  for  himself,  making 
it  his  office.  Here  he  transacted  the  most  of  his 
business  during  the  rebellion. 

After  a  short  search,  I  found  Hulas  in  Deopura, 
occupying  a  miserable  hovel.  He  and  his  wife  and 
child  barely  escaped  death  from  the  hands  of  the 
sepoys.  They  are  very  poor,  having  been  robbed 
three  times  during  the  summer.  All  that  they  saved 
was  a  few  books  which  they  buried  in  the  ground, 
and  which  I  found  him  drying  upon  a  charpoy,  or 
bedstead,  the  only  article  of  furniture  I  saw  in  the 
house. 

Having  assured  him  that  the  long  and  gloomy  night 
of  terror,  which  for  months  past  has  hung  over  us,  was 
drawing  to  a  close,  and  that  the  dawn  of  a  brighter 
day  was  probably  near  at  hand ;  and  having  promised 
to  see  him  on  my  return  from  Futtehgurh,  I  retraced 
my  steps  and  reached  Mr.  Boldero's  by  ten  o'clock — 
the  time  we  had  determined  to  resume  our  journey. 

As  the  country  between  Mynpurie  and  this  place 
was  still  unsettled,  we  increased  our  guard  to  twenty- 
five  men  before  starting,  a  precaution  that  was  thought 
necessary  to  secure  our  safety.  At  Bewar  we  found 
the  horses  of  Mr.  Boldero  and  Mr.  Chaise  awaiting 
our  arrival,  having  been  sent  out  during  the  night ; 
leaving  our  carriage  to  follow  us,  we  mounted  them 
and  a  ride  of  a  few  hours  brought  us  to  Futtehgurh. 

We  found  the  country  under  a  much  better  state  of 
cultivation  than  we  had  anticipated,  but  evidences  of 
the  outbreak  were  everywhere  visible,  in  roofless 
villages,  ruined  dak  bungalows,  police  stations  and 
milestones,  and  in  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  people. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  407 

During  the  reign  of  anarchy  one  village  has  plundered 
and  burned  another,  until  they  are  nearly  all  ruined. 
I  did  not  see  a  woman  or  a  child  in  Mynpurie,  Bho- 
gaon,  or  Bewar,  Hulas  Roy's  wife  and  child  excepted. 
All  had  fled  to  distant  villages. 

On  reaching  Futtehgurh,  I  made  my  way  at  once 
to  Rukha,  expecting  to  find  it  unoccupied  save  by  our 
native  Christians,  but  what  was  my  astonishment  to 
find  it  the  headquarters  of  the  commander-in-chief. 
Ten  thousand  British  soldiers,  and  almost  as  many 
camp  followers,  are  encamped  in  and  about  the 
premises.  Their  canvas  houses  stretch  far  away  to 
the  south  and  west,  covering  all  the  land  belonging 
to  the  mission  and  filling  the  large  mango  groves  be- 
yond our  little  burial  ground.  Every  place  swarms 
with  oxen,  buffaloes,  horses,  camels  and  elephants; 
while  artillery  wagons,  baggage  wagons  and  private 
conveyances  in  vast  numbers  are  found  wherever 
there  is  room  for  them  to  stand. 

My  first  business  was  to  look  for  our  native  Chris- 
tians, but  a  glance  at  the  state  of  the  mission  premises 
said  to  me  louder  than  words  could  speak,  ''they 
can't  be  here." 

There  is  not  a  roof,  a  door,  or  a  window,  or  even  a 
piece  of  wood  as  large  as  a  walking  stick  in  the  place. 
The  bungalows  occupied  by  the  missionaries,  the  old 
church,  the  orphanage,  the  tent  manufactory  and  the 
Christian  village  have  been  involved  in  one  common 
ruin.  Some  of  the  walls  of  these  buildings  have 
fallen  down,  filling  the  rooms  with  heaps  of  rubbish ; 
others  are  leaning  and  ready  to  fall;  and  still  others 
are  so  cracked  and  broken  that  they  will  probably 


4o8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

have  to  come  down  before  they  can  be  repaired.  The 
walls  and  steeple  of  the  new  church  are  still  standing; 
but  its  roof  has  been  destroyed,  and  its  timbers  and 
everything  movable  taken  away. 

The  first  place  I  entered  was  the  bungalow  re- 
cently occupied  by  the  Freemans.  Here  the  Walshes 
and  the  Seelys  welcomed  us  to  their  field  of  labor 
seven  years  ago,  and  here  two  years  ago  we  met 
nearly  all  the  brethren  of  our  mission.  Every  room 
had  its  associations,  and  the  contrast  between  the 
past  and  the  present  filled  my  soul  with  sadness.  I 
passed  on  into  the  orphanage,  at  the  back  part  of  the 
house.  Here  we  had  often  seen  Mrs.  Walsh  at  her 
labors;  and  here  the  Master  said  to  dear  Mrs. 
Freeman, 

"Servant  of  God,  well  done  ; 
Rest  from  thy  blest  employ." 

The  place  was  filled  with  oxen ;  I  looked  at  it  but  for 
a  moment  and  then  turned  away.  I  next  directed 
my  steps  to  the  bungalow  in  which  the  McMullins 
lived  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak.  Here  we  had  lived 
three  months,  awaiting  our  baggage  on  our  first 
arrival  in  the  country.  Here  the  Campbells  lived 
after  us;  and  here  I  saw  them  surrounded  by  their 
three  beautiful  children  two  years  ago.  The  walls  of 
their  drawing  room  sheltered  now  an  elephant  from  the 
cold  west  wind,  and  other  parts  of  the  building  were 
occupied  as  a  stable  for  oxen.  I  went  to  the  little 
church  in  which  our  first  annual  meeting  was  held, 
during  my  last  visit  to  the  station ;  and  where  only 
two  short  years  ago  I  spent  one  of  the  most  delightful 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  409 

communion  Sabbaths  it  has  ever  been  my  lot  to 
enjoy.  But  where  are  my  fellow-communicants  who 
sat  down  with  me  then  at  the  table  of  our  Lord  ?  The 
Freemans,  the  Campbells  and  the  Johnsons  ?  Our 
other  missionary  brethren?  The  young-  convert  who 
that  day  renounced  the  religion  of  the  false  prophet, 
and  who  with  tears  of  penitence  cast  in  his  lot  with 
the  people  of  God  ?  Poor  Babar  Khan !  who  wept 
for  joy  over  a  brother  who  "  was  lost  and  is  found"  ? 
and  poor  Dhokal  ?  The  large  number  of  native 
brethren  who  partook  with  us  of  the  feast  which  was 
spread  before  us  ? 

"  All  are  scattered  now  and  fled, 
Some  are  living  and  some  are  dead  ; 
And  when,  I  ask,  with  throbs  of  pain, 
When  shall  these  all  meet  again  ?' ' 

The  roofless  buildings  and  the  blackened  walls 
around  me  reply,  ''Never,  until  ye  eat  bread  in 
your  Father's  house  above." 

As  I  could  not  find  the  living,  I  paid  a  visit  to  the 
home  of  the  dead.  A  short  walk  brought  me  to  our 
little  mission  graveyard.  Here  lie  the  remains  of 
dear  Mrs.  Seely,  v/hom  all  loved  who  knew  her.  As 
I  approached  her  grave,  the  recollections  of  the  past 
were  so  vivid,  that  I  felt  that  she  must  rise  and  meet 
me,  with  one  of  the  smiles  of  welcome  with  which 
she  was  ever  wont  to  meet  her  friends;  and  although 
the  feeling  was  not  realized,  I  could  not  help  saying 
to  myself,  *'She  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth."  Here, 
too,  the  hand  of  the  destroyer  has  been  busy;  her 
grave  remains  untouched,  but  the  tomb  over  it  has 
been  broken  to  pieces  and  carried  away. 


4IO  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

When  I  remembered  that  it  was  for  these  rebels 
that  she  gave  up  the  endearments  of  home,  and 
severed  the  ties  that  bound  her  to  the  country  that 
gave  her  birth,  to  Hve,  to  labor  and  to  die  in  a  strange 
land,  a  feeling  of  resentment  against  them  for  their 
ingratitude  momentarily  took  possession  of  my 
breast;  but  the  prayer  of  Christ,  who  came  to  his 
own  and  they  received  him  not,  but  on  the  contrary, 
platted  a  crown  of  thorns  and  placed  it  upon  his 
head,  scourged  him,  and  led  him  away  to  be  crucified, 
came  to  my  recollection;  and  I  knew  if  her  body 
could  burst  from  the  cerements  of  the  tomb,  her  meek 
and  gentle  spirit  would  lead  her  to  say,  "  Father, 
forgive  them;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
The  gate  of  the  graveyard  has  been  carried  away, 
and  the  most  of  the  tombs  destroyed,  and  the  place, 
like  every  other  about  the  premises,  filled  with  oxen. 
I  returned  at  dark  to  the  place  where  I  had  left  my 
horse,  not  knowing  where  I  was  to  pass  the  night. 

A  pious  captain,  by  the  name  of ,  a  grandson  of 

Mrs.   ,  the  friend  of  Cowper,  heard  that  there 

was  a  missionary  in  camp,  and  sent  for  me.  I  dined 
with  him,  and  spent  the  evening  with  him.  At  a 
late  hour,  having  procured  a  charpoy  from  the  good 
captain's  Christian  clerk,  I  wrapped  my  resai,  or 
quilt,  about  me,  and  laid  me  down,  thinking  of  the 
137th  Psalm:  "By  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  there  we 
sat  down,  yea,  we  wept,  when  we  remembered  Zion." 
Alas!  how  changed  and  sad  our  mission  is  now. 
But  how  impotent  is  the  rage  of  our  enemies;  they 
may  triumph  for  a  season,  burn  our  churches,  kill 
our  missionaries,   and  scatter  our  people,   but   they 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  4II 

cannot  prevail  against  the  cause  of  Christ.  We  are 
weak,  but  our  Master  is  strong;  this  is  a  thought 
with  which  the  Psalmist  was  wont  to  comfort  himself 
under  trouble. 

* '  My  days  are  like  a  shadow  that  declineth ;  and  I 
am  withered  like  grass.  But  thou,  O  Lord,  vShalt 
endure  for  ever;  and  thy  remembrance  unto  all 
generations.  Thou  shalt  arise,  and  have  mercy  upon 
Zion :  for  the  time  to  favor  her,  yea,  the  set  time,  is 
come.  For  thy  servants  take  pleasure  in  her  stones, 
and  favor  the  dust  thereof.  So  the  heathen  shall 
fear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth  thy  glory." 

In  my  next  letter,  I  will  tell  you  something  about 
our  native  Christians. 

Affectionately  yours, 

R.    S.    FULLERTON. 


FuTTEHGURH,  January  25,  1858. 

My  Dear :  I  promised  in  my  last  letter  to  tell 

you  in  this  something  about  our  native  Christians. 
This  promise  I  now  proceed  to  fulfill. 

I  reached  the  station  on  Saturday  evening,  but  I 
did  not  succeed  in  finding  our  poor  native  brethren 
imtil  late  in  the  evening  of  the  next  day.  I  at  length 
found  them  in  the  cantonment  bazar,  in  a  building 
with  a  courtyard  in  the  centre. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  I  had  arrived,  men, 
women  and  children  gathered  around  me.  We  met 
in  silence,  neither  they  nor  I  could  for  a  time  trust 
our  voices  to  speak,  for  fear  we  should  break  down. 


4IO  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

When  I  remembered  that  it  was  for  these  rebels 
that  she  gave  up  the  endearments  of  home,  and 
severed  the  ties  that  bound  her  to  the  country  that 
gave  her  birth,  to  hve,  to  labor  and  to  die  in  a  strange 
land,  a  feeling  of  resentment  against  them  for  their 
ingratitude  momentarily  took  possession  of  my 
breast;  but  the  prayer  of  Christ,  who  came  to  his 
own  and  they  received  him  not,  but  on  the  contrary, 
platted  a  crown  of  thorns  and  placed  it  upon  his 
head,  scourged  him,  and  led  him  away  to  be  crucified, 
came  to  my  recollection;  and  I  knew  if  her  body 
could  burst  from  the  cerements  of  the  tomb,  her  meek 
and  gentle  spirit  would  lead  her  to  say,  "  Father, 
forgive  them;  for  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
The  gate  of  the  graveyard  has  been  carried  away, 
and  the  most  of  the  tombs  destroyed,  and  the  place, 
like  every  other  about  the  premises,  filled  with  oxen. 
I  returned  at  dark  to  the  place  where  I  had  left  my 
horse,  not  knowing  where  I  was  to  pass  the  night. 

A  pious  captain,  by  the  name  of ,  a  grandson  of 

Mrs.   ,  the  friend  of  Cowper,  heard  that  there 

was  a  missionary  in  camp,  and  sent  for  me.  I  dined 
with  him,  and  spent  the  evening  with  him.  At  a 
late  hour,  having  procured  a  charpoy  from  the  good 
captain's  Christian  clerk,  I  wrapped  my  resaz,  or 
quilt,  about  me,  and  laid  me  down,  thinking  of  the 
137th  Psalm:  ''By  the  rivers  of  Babylon,  there  we 
sat  down,  yea,  we  wept,  when  we  remembered  Zion." 
Alas!  how  changed  and  sad  our  mission  is  now. 
But  how  impotent  is  the  rage  of  our  enemies;  they 
may  triumph  for  a  season,  burn  our  churches,  kill 
our  missionaries,   and  scatter  our  people,   but   they 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  4II 

cannot  prevail  against  the  cause  of  Christ.  We  are 
weak,  but  our  Master  is  strong;  this  is  a  thought 
with  which  the  Psahnist  was  Vv^ont  to  comfort  himself 
under  trouble. 

' '  My  days  are  like  a  shadow  that  declineth ;  and  I 
am  withered  like  grass.  But  thou,  O  Lord,  shalt 
endure  for  ever;  and  thy  remembrance  unto  all 
generations.  Thou  shalt  arise,  and  have  mercy  upon 
Zion :  for  the  time  to  favor  her,  yea,  the  set  time,  is 
come.  For  thy  servants  take  pleasure  in  her  stones, 
and  favor  the  dust  thereof.  So  the  heathen  shall 
fear  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth  thy  glory." 

In  my  next  letter,  I  will  tell  you  something  about 
our  native  Christians. 

Affectionately  yours, 

R.    S.    FULLERTON. 


FuTTEHGURH,  January  25,  1858. 

My  Dear :  I  promised  in  my  last  letter  to  tell 

you  in  this  something  about  our  native  Christians. 
This  promise  I  now  proceed  to  fulfill. 

I  reached  the  station  on  Saturday  evening,  but  I 
did  not  succeed  in  finding  our  poor  native  brethren 
imtil  late  in  the  evening  of  the  next  day.  I  at  length 
found  them  in  the  cantonment  bazar,  in  a  building 
with  a  courtyard  in  the  centre. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  I  had  arrived,  men, 
women  and  children  gathered  around  me.  We  met 
in  silence,  neither  they  nor  I  could  for  a  time  trust 
our  voices  to  speak,  for  fear  we  should  break  down. 


412  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

They  are  the  children  of  the  mission,  and  in  Rukha 
they  had  found  a  happy  home.  In  the  midst  of  their 
prosperity,  and  at  a  time  they  least  expected  it,  the 
storm  arose,  which  has  swept  with  such  pitiless  fury 
over  these  provinces,  desolating  many  of  its  fairest 
fields,  and  fiUing  many  of  its  homes  with  unutterable 
woe.  It  seized  them  and  scattered  them  like  the 
leaves  of  the  forest.  For  seven  or  eight  months  they 
were  driven  by  it  wherever  it  listed.  I  saw  its  effect 
upon  them,  in  their  miserable  clothing,  and  in  their 
emaciated  appearance,  but  I  shall  not  attempt  to  de- 
scribe what  my  feelings  were.  They  no  doubt 
thought  of  their  murdered  teachers  and  brethren, 
whose  faces  they  will  see  no  more ;  of  their  wander- 
ings and  their  sufferings  since  they  were  driven  from 
the  station;  and  their  feelings  at  their  return  were 
probably  not  unlike  those  which  heave  the  breast  of 
the  survivors  of  a  shipwreck  on  escaping  from  the 
horrors  of  a  water}^  grave.  When  I  could  control  my 
feehngs,  I  asked  for  a  Bible  and  a  hymn  book.  We 
then  sang  the  23d  Psalm,  and  read  the  103d,  and 
then  kneeling  down  upon  the  bare  ground  of  the 
courtyard,  we  lifted  our  hearts  in  prayer  to  God, 
thanking  him  for  his  many  mercies  to  us  during  the 
terrible  months  (which  seem  like  so  many  years) 
which  have  intervened  since  these  calamities  over- 
took us,  and  for  permitting  so  many  of  us  to  return 
to  our  homes  in  peace.  The  absent  ones  were  re- 
membered, and  we  did  not  forget  to  pray  that  those 
evils  may  be  overruled  for  good  to  ourselves,  to  the 
heathen  and  to  the  church.  When  we  arose,  each 
had  his  tale  of  sorrow  and  of  sufferino-  to  relate.     The 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  413 

missionaries  left  the  station  on  the  4th  of  June,  but  the 
native  Christians  remained  until  the  19th.  During 
this  time  they  were  exposed  to  the  greatest  dangers. 
The  native  regiment  had  mutinied  on  the  4th,  seized 
the  treasury,  and  carried  it  to  the  parade  ground, 
and  placed  their  own  guard  over  it.  The  brave  old 
colonel  (Col.  Smith)  remained  with  them,  trying  to 
bring  them  back  to  their  allegiance;  and  up  to  the 
19th,  showed  much  interest  in  the  villagers  of  Rukha. 
He  gave  them  arms,  and  told  them  to  defend  them- 
selves, if  molested,  until  he  could  come  to  their 
rescue.  His  entrenchment  was  a  mile  distant.  Three 
times  they  were  attacked  by  large  bodies  of  men,  but 
were  as  often  delivered  out  of  their  hands  by  the 
kind-hearted  old  colonel.  On  the  i8th,  two  mutinous 
regiments  came  to  the  station,  and  then  the  work  of 
plunder  and  destruction  commenced.  As  soon  as  the 
property  was  removed,  the  buildings  were  fired,  and 
soon  the  station  was  a  heap  of  smouldering  ruins. 
Rukha  stands  a  little  out  of  the  station,  and  hence 
escaped  until  the  next  morning;  by  this  time  the 
villagers  in  the  neighborhood  had  risen,  and  they 
now  surrounded  the  place  in  great  numbers,  not  for 
the  purpose  of  killing  its  occupants,  but  for  the  pur- 
pose of  plundering  it.  They  went  systematically  to 
work;  they  first  plundered  the  church,  then  the 
houses  of  the  missionaries,  then  the  tent  manufac- 
tory, and  last  of  all  the  native  Christians.  They 
began  about  eight  o'clock,  and  by  noon  their  work 
was  done,  and  the  premises  were  left  in  the  state 
which  I  described  in  my  last  letter. 

While  all  this  was  occurring  at  Rukha,  a  similar 


414  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

work  was  going  on  at  Bharpur.  This  is  where 
Brother  Campbell  and  Brother  Johnson  together  with 
a  number  of  native  brethren  lived.  And  I  will  here 
say,  that  I  may  not  have  to  refer  to  it  again,  that  the 
condition  of  the  premises  at  this  place  differs  in  no 
respect  from  those  of  Rukha.  But  to  return  to 
Rukha,  after  the  native  Christians  had  been  robbed 
of  everything  but  what  they  had  on  and  the  few 
valuables  they  had  about  their  persons,  they  scattered, 
some  going  to  one  village  and  some  to  another,  but 
still  remaining  within  a  short  distance  of  their  old 
homes.  For  a  few  days  they  felt  comparatively 
secure,  as  they  had  now  little  to  lose  but  their  lives, 
and  as  thej^  had  escaped  with  these  on  the  19th,  they 
hoped  they  would  not  be  disturbed  in  future.  But 
the  Nawab  issued  an  order  that  they  should  be  seized 
and  killed,  at  the  same  time  offering  a  reward  for 
their  heads. 

On  hearing  this  they  fled  in  all  directions;  some, 
after  many  hair-breadth  escapes,  reached  Cawnpore, 
just  after  it  had  been  retaken  by  Gen.  Havelock, 
where  the  Rev.  Mr.  Gregson,  of  the  Baptist  Mission, 
rendered  them  every  assistance  in  his  power.  By  the 
time  they  reached  that  place  they  had  scarcely  a  rag 
to  cover  their  nakedness,  having  been  stripped  of 
everything  by  the  way.  But  all  who  set  out  for 
Cawnpore  were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  reach  it.  A 
number  of  little  children,  unable  to  endure  the  priva- 
tions and  hardships  of  the  journey,  died.  A  mother, 
too,  the  wife  of  an  esteemed  catechist,  John  F.  Hous- 
ton, fell  sick,  and  by  some  means  became  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  company.     She  had  with  her  an 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  415 

unweaned  child.  When  they  were  next  seen  they 
were  lying  side  by  side  in  a  poor  hovel  at  the  edge  of 
a  village.  Both  were  dead !  There  was  no  one  near 
to  administer  to  the  wants  of  that  dying  mother. 
She  needed  no  one  to  smooth  her  pillow,  for  her  only 
bed  was  the  hard  ground.  There  was  no  one  there 
to  give  her  a  cup  of  cold  water,  or  to  direct  her 
thoughts  above ;  none  to  quiet  her  child  or  to  give  it 
food;  and  none  when  the  breath  left  their  bodies  to 
carry  them  to  .the  grave.  For  several  days  they  were 
left  lying  where  they  died.  They  were  Christians. 
The  proud  Moslem  would  not  touch  them,  because 
their  faith  differed  from  his  own,  and  the  Hindu 
would  not  do  it  for  fear  of  losing  caste.  At  last, 
when  they  could  remain  no  longer  in  the  village, 
some  sweepers  came,  carried  them  out  and  threw 
them  into  a  neighboring  stream. 

But  did  I  say  that  this  mother  and  her  child  were 
alone?  No,  they  were  not  alone !  //t^  was  with  them 
who  says,  "  Zt*,  I  am  zvitJi  you  ahvay^ "  and  the  angels 
were  with  them,  who  bore  Lazarus  from  his  wretched- 
ness on  earth  to  a  place  in  Abraham's  bosom..  Their 
afflictions  were  but  for  a  moment ;  they  now  enjoy  an 
"exceeding  and  an  eternal  weight  of  glory."  Let 
me  die  among  cold  and  heartless  strangers,  destitute, 
afflicted  and  far  from  human  sympathy ;  let  the  cold 
ground  be  my  dying  bed,  and  the  turbid  stream  my 
last  resting  place,  but  "  let  me  die  the  death  of  the 
righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his." 

Those  of  our  native  Christians  who  did  not  make 
for  Cawnpore,  fled  to  distant  villages.  Some  found  a 
friendly  shelter  under  the  roof  of  the  Zamindars,  where 


4l6  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

they  earned  a  livelihood  for  themselves  and  families 
for  seven  months,  by  working"  in  the  fields  for  about 
three  cents  a  day.  Others  were  less  fortunate,  they 
entered  villages  which  were  hostile  to  them,  and  had 
to  flee  from  place  to  place,  each  day  expecting  that  it 
would  be  their  last.  They  were  stripped  of  their  cloth- 
ing and  were  sometimes  whole  days  without  food. 
Sometimes  they  had  nothing  to  eat  but  a  little  meal 
mixed  with  water,  and  at  others  they  lived  upon  the 
ears  of  corn  which  they  plucked  from  the  fields. 

But  the  case  of  the  six  blind  orphan  girls,  poor 
blind  Lulloo  and  Kurga,  the  leper,  is  the  one  which 
has  excited  my  commiseration  most.  Here  were 
seven  persons  without  eyes,  and  one  who  is  most 
helpless,  who  were  driven  from  their  homes  at  the 
beginning  of  the  rainy  season.  Such  persons  would 
not  want  in  any  village  at  home,  but  it  is  not  so  here. 
Hindus  turn  away  even  from  Hindus  who  are  afflicted 
in  this  way,  because  they  look  upon  their  sufferings 
as  the  just  retribution  of  heaven  upon  them  for  their 
sins  in  a  former  birth.  What,  then,  could  these  poor 
Christians  expect  from  them  ?  They,  no  doubt,  ex- 
pected but  little,  and  it  was  but  little  they  received. 
They  were  sometimes  days  and  nights  without  a 
shelter,  and  had  it  not  been  that  he  who  hears  the 
young  ravens  when  they  cry  sheltered  them  and  pro- 
vided for  them,  they  must  have  perished. 

I  was  here  several  days  before  I  found  out  where 
they  were.  Having  then  learned  that  they  were  in  a 
village  some  distance  from  the  place  where  I  am 
stopping,  I  rode  out  to  see  them.  They  were  living 
in  a  miserable  shed ;  all  were  present  but  one.     Their 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  417 

poverty  surpassed  anything-  I  ever  saw  before.  All 
they  possessed  in  the  world  would  not  have  sold  for 
twenty-five  cents  in  the  streets  of  New  York.  They 
were  overjoyed  when  they  heard  my  voice.  At  one 
time  they  no  doubt  felt  that  their  friends  and  teachers 
had  all  been  killed,  and  that  they  would  never  meet 
any  of  us  again,  and  hence  we  need  not  wonder  at 
their  joy.  I  found  poor  LuUoo  lying  on  the  ground, 
sick  of  a  fever,  and  with  nothing  but  a  few  rags  to 
cover  him.  I  asked  him  if  he  had  found  Christ  precious 
during  the  long  months  of  suffering  through  which 
he  had  passed.  His  reply  w^as,  "Oh,  yes!  in  dukh 
(pain)  and  in  sukh  (ease),  he  is  ever  the  same."  As 
I  was  returning,  I  met  poor  blind  Susan,  who  I  had 
heard  was  in  search  of  me.  A  little  boy  was  leading 
her.  I  asked  her  who  she  was.  Her  reply  was,  "  I 
am  a  poor  blind  girl;  I  have  been  looking  for  my 
padri,  but  I  can't  find  him. "  When  she  learned  who  I 
was,  her  lips  trembled  with  emotion,  while  she 
thanked  me  for  coming  to  see  them.  "  Oh,  sir,"  she 
said,  "  it  is  very  kind  of  you  to  come  so  far  to  look 
after  poor  blind  people  like  us."  Poor  girl,  she  little 
knew  what  a  privilege  I  felt  it  to  be.  And  who  would 
not  esteem  it  a  privilege,  seeing  that  our  blessed 
Redeemer  has  said,  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it 
unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have 
done  it  unto  me"? 

Oh !  who,  under  these  circumstances,  would  lose  an 
opportunity  to  administer  to  the  wants  of  the  lowly  ? 
And  who  would  not  serve  a  Master  who  thus  highly 
esteems  the  services  of  those  who  make  them  the 
objects  of  their  care? 


41 8  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

Dhokal  and  his  family  were  killed  in  this  station 
by  the  order  of  the  Nawab.  Twenty-nine  Christians 
were  killed  at  the  same  time.  I  heard  in  Agra  that 
twenty-one  of  these  belonged  to  Rukha,  but  this 
has  not  been  corroborated  here.  We  have  not  yet 
learned,  with  a  few  exceptions,  who  they  were. 
There  are  nearly  a  hundred  native  Christians,  includ- 
ing young  and  old,  here  now.  Through  the  kindness 
of  Major  Conran,  to  whom  our  Afghan  mission  is  so 
much  indebted,  Dr.  Farquhar,  C.  S. ;  W.  H.  Lowe, 
C.  S. ;  C.  Raikes,  C.  S. ;  Lieutenant  Harrington  and 
a  few  other  friends,  they  have  all  been  placed  out  of 
the  reach  of  immediate  want,  and  will  now,  I  hope, 
be  able  to  earn  a  livelihood  for  themselves. 

I  am  glad  that  I  am  able  to  say,  in  conclusion,  that 
although  some  of  them  were  seized  and  threatened 
with  death  if  they  refused  to  become  Mohammedans, 
I  have  not  heard  of  a  single  case  of  apostasy  among 
them.     But  I  must  close. 

Affectionately  yours, 

R.    S.    FULLERTON. 

FuTTEHGURH,  January  30,  1858. 

My  Dear :  You  have  already  heard  from  us  at 

different  times  all  we  know  about  the  fate  of  our  dear 
missionary  brethren  who  labored  here,  and  I  know 
not  that  I  can  give  you  any  additional  information 
upon  the  subject.  Still,  you  will,  no  doubt,  feel  in- 
terested in  hearing  what  eye-witnesses  of  what  befell 
them  have  to  say  with  regard  to  it. 

I  have  heard  many  stories  respecting  their  end, 
many  of  which  were  conflicting,  but,  by  taking  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  419 

parties  relating  them  one  by  one  and  privately  ex- 
amining them,  I  think  that  I  have  arrived  at  the 
truth. 

The  native  brethren  say  that  for  nearly  three  weeks 
before  the  troops  at  the  station  mutinied,  the  mis- 
sionaries and  themselves  were  in  the  greatest  state  of 
alarm.  Mr.  Campbell  and  Mr.  Johnson,  with  their 
families,  came  in  from  Bharpur;  the  former  stayed 
with  the  Freemans,  the  latter  with  the  McMuUins. 
They  had  but  little  fear  that  their  own  regiment,  the 
loth  N.  I.,  would  mutiny,  because  it  was  one  that 
had  greatly  distinguished  itself  for  its  fidelity  in  the 
last  Burmah  war,  but  large  bodies  of  mutinous  troops 
were  daily  passing  near  the  station  and  they  did  not 
know  what  moment  they  might  be  attacked  by  them. 
In  consequence  of  this,  they  patroled  the  mission 
premises  every  night,  and  had  their  horses  harnessed, 
so  that  they  might  fly  at  a  moment's  warning. 

On  the  morning  of  June  3,  the  regiment  at  the 
station  showed  signs  of  an  intention  to  mutiny,  and 
that  night  the  European  officers  slept  in  the  lines 
with  the  sepoys.  Col.  Smith  made  every  exertion  to 
keep  them  from  throwing  off  their  allegiance,  and  in 
this  he  would  have  succeeded  if  it  had  not  been  for 
the  fact  that  half  of  the  regiment  was  composed  of 
new  recruits.  The  old  soldiers  were  disposed  to  re- 
main true  to  their  colors,  but  the  recruits  wished  at 
once  to  join  the  rebels.  The  next  morning  they 
seized  the  treasury  and  carried  it  to  the  parade 
ground,  and  were  in  an  open  state  of  mutiny.  The 
brave  old  colonel,  however,  still  remained  with  them, 
trying  to  bring  them   back  to  their  allegiance.     In 


420  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

this  he  so  far  succeeded  that  they  promised,  and 
sealed  it  with  a  most  solemn  oath,  that  if  the  past 
were  forgiven  they  would  remain  true  to  him — a 
promise  and  an  oath  which  they  most  shamefully 
broke  a  few  days  afterwards. 

On  the  3d,  when  the  disturbance  in  the  regiment 
commenced,  the  European  residents  nearly  all  made 
arrangements  to  leave  the  station,  by  boats,  for 
Cawnpore.  Some  spent  the  night  on  board  and 
others  remained  in  bungalows  on  the  bank  of  the 
river.  Our  missionaries  went  to  the  house  of  Mr. 
McLain,  an  indigo  planter,  living  near  the  river.  In 
the  night,  brother  Campbell  returned,  and  walked  for 
several  hours  in  the  garden  with  the  native  brethren, 
advising  them  and  trying  to  strengthen  their  faith. 
He  told  them  he  had  little  hope  himself  of  escaping, 
but  that  he  felt  less  concern  about  himself  than  he 
did  for  them.  They  speak  of  his  return  and  the  ad- 
vice he  gave  them,  with  much  gratitude. 

On  the  morning  of  the  4th,  when  the  residents  of 
the  station  heard  that  the  regiment  had  seized  the 
treasury,  they  fled  to  their  boats  and  dropped  down 
the  river.  There  were  four  boats;  our  brethren  were 
in  that  of  Mr.  McLain,  who  seems  to  have  shown 
them  the  greatest  kindness. 

When  they  reached  Rawal  Gunje,  eight  miles  from 
Futtehgurh,  the  villagers  came  out  with  clubs  in- 
tending to  plunder  them,  but  when  they  saw  that  the 
party  was  armed  they  did  not  attempt  it.  At  Singi- 
rampore  they  were  fired  on  by  a  large  number  of 
matchlock  men.  Their  fire  was  returned,  and  they, 
too,  made  off.     The  party  then,  for  mutual  protec- 


OF  THE   BOARD  OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  42I 

tion,  all  got  into  one  boat,  leaving  their  baggage  in 
the  other  three.      The  latter  were  soon  plundered. 

They  met  with  no  further  interruption  until  they 
reached  Quasampore,  a  Mohammedan  village.  Here 
they  were  again  fired  on,  and  one  of  the  party  was 
v/ounded  severely  in  the  thigh.  The  fire  was  re- 
turned, and  eight  of  the  villagers  were  killed.  This 
gave  them  a  check,  but  still  they  followed  them  for 
nearly  an  hour.  On  the  evening  of  the  third  day 
after  leaving  Futtehgurh,  they  went  ashore  to  cook  a 
little  food.  Here  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  power- 
ful Zamindar,  who  asked  them  whence  they  came 
and  whither  they  v/ere  going.  On  hearing  their 
reply,  he  told  them  that  they  were  now  at  his  mercy. 
They  offered  him  a  thousand  rupees  if  he  would  let 
them  off  and  help  them  to  get  down  to  Cawnpore; 
promising  to  pay  five  hundred  down  and  the  other 
five  hundred  on  their  reaching  the  end  of  their 
journey.  These  conditions  were  accepted,  the  money 
was  collected  and  paid.  The  treacherous  Zamindar 
then  said,  ''I  will  give  you  five  men  here  and  the 
rest  at  a  village  a  short  distance  lower  down  the 
river."  Of  the  five  men,  only  one  went  on  board, 
and  the  rest  managed  to  run  away,  and  this  was  all 
the  assistance  they  received  from  him. 

The  party  after  this  floated  down  with  the  current 
for  two  days  and  nights,  without  stopping  and  with- 
out meeting  with  any  further  interruption  during  that 
time. 

On  the  evening  of  the  fifth  day  after  leaving  Fut- 
tehgurh, they  reached  an  island  five  miles  below 
Bithoor,  the  residence  of  the  bloody  Nana  Sahib,  and 


422  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

as  many  above  Cawnpore.  Here  they  tied  their  boat 
to  the  shore,  and  hired  a  man  to  carry  a  note  to  Sir 
Hugh  Wheeler,  who  was  at  this  time  besieged  by  the 
rebels  under  the  Nana  Sahib.  The  object  of  the 
party  was  to  get  an  escort  so  that  they  might  get  into 
the  trenches;  but  the  man  whom  they  sent  never  re- 
turned. For  three  days  they  remained  at  the  island 
trying  to  communicate  with  Sir  Hugh,  but  all  their 
efforts  failed. 

During^  all  this  time  the  roar  of  artillery  was  dis- 
tinctly heard,  and  the  fugitives  were  placed  in  a  most 
tr3'-ing  position.  Below  them  was  a  bridge  of  boats, 
so  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  get  down  the 
river,  and  above  them  the  whole  country  was  swarm- 
ing with  enemies,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  return. 

On  the  fourth  day  they  saw  some  sepoys  crossing 
the  bridge,  but  they  thought  little  of  it,  supposing 
that  they  were  going  to  Lucknow.  But  they  soon 
learned  their  mistake,  for  the  sepoys  very  soon  after 
crossing  opened  fire  on  them  from  a  cornfield  on  the 
Oude  side.  The  first  cannon  ball  struck  within  a 
foot  of  the  boat,  the  second  killed  a  child,  and  the 
third  killed  a  lady  and  a  native  nurse.  The  whole 
party  then  left  the  boat  and  concealed  themselves 
among  the  long  grass  on  the  island.  Here  they  re- 
mained for  a  little  while,  and  then  sought  the  protec- 
tion of  a  few  sissoo  trees  which  were  at  some  distance, 
as  they  found  the  heat  of  the  sim  very  great.  Under 
their  shadow  they  found  a  well  and  some  native  huts. 
They  asked  the  owner  for  water,  but  he  would 
neither  draw  it  for  them  nor  allow  them  to  draw  it 
for  themselves.     When  one  of  the  three  native  Chris- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  423 

tian  young-  men  who  were  with  them  saw  this,  he 
went  to  the  river  and  brought  water  for  them  until 
all  were  satisfied. 

The  party  consisted  of  126  persons.  One  of  the 
missionaries  now  arose  and  said,  * '  Our  last  day  has  in 
all  probability  come;  Ictus,  therefore,  commend  our 
souls  to  God  in  prayer."  Br.  Freeman  read  a  portion 
of  vScripture,  and  made  a  few  remarks.  They  then 
sang  a  hymn  and  all  kneeled  down,  and  Br.  F.  led 
them  in  prayer.  Another  hymn  was  then  sung,  and 
Br.  Campbell  made  some  remarks  and  led  in  prayer. 
The  party  then  held  a  short  consultation  among 
themselves,  after  which  those  who  had  arms  took 
them  and  threw  them  into  the  river.  An  hour  or 
two  after  this,  a  party  of  sepoys  appeared  on  the  right 
bank,  procured  a  boat  and  crossed  over,  and  made 
them  prisoners.  When  they  reached  the  main  land, 
some  of  the  party  told  the  sepoys  that  the  most  of 
them  were  not  connected  with  government  in  any 
way;  that  they  were  merchants,  indigo  planters, 
teachers,  missionaries,  etc.,  who,  since  they  had  been 
in  the  country,  had  pursued  peaceful  callings,  and 
that  they  should  not  therefore  molest  them.  A  few 
of  the  sepoys  said  that  this  was  true,  and  were  dis- 
posed to  let  them  go ;  but  others  said,  * '  No,  away  with 
them  to  the  Nana  Sahib,  and  let  them  be  killed,  that 
the  seed  of  the  foreigners  may  not  remain  in  the 
country."  The  latter  party  prevailed,  and  proceeded 
to  bind  their  prisoners  together  two  and  two.  Where 
they  were  husband  and  wife,  they  were  allowed  to  be 
tied  t02fether,  the  left  hand  of  the  husband  beinof  tied 
to  the  right  hand  of  his  wife.     The  Campbells  were 


424  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

thus  tied;  Br.  Campbell  carried  Willey  in  his  arms,  a 
friend  carrying  Fanny  for  him.  None  of  the  other 
missionaries  had  any  children  in  this  country.  When 
they  were  about  to  set  out  for  Cawnpore,  Mr.  McLain 
offered  the  sepoys  $150,000,  if  they  would  let  them 
go ;  but  they  said,  "  It  is  blood  we  want,  not  money. " 
Before  they  set  out,  the  missionaries  found  an  oppor- 
tunity to  tell  the  three  native  Christian  men  to  make 
their  escape,  as  they  would  surely  be  put  to  death  if 
it  should  be  found  out  that  they  were  Christians. 
Mrs.  Freeman's  last  words  to  them  were,  "Give 
Prem  our  salam,  and  tell  him  that  our  end  has 
come."  There  was  still  a  little  Christian  nurse,  Mar- 
garet, who  remained  with  them,  and  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  an  account  of  the  march  to  Cawnpore. 

The  party  set  out  about  five  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
They  had  eaten  but  little  for  several  days,  and  their 
anxiety  and  their  fasting  had  rendered  them  very 
weak.  This  was  especially  the  case  with  some  of  the 
ladies.  Half  way  between  the  river  and  Cawnpore 
some  of  the  part}^  gave  out.  A  halt  was  called ;  the 
sepoys  formed  a  ring  around  the  prisoners,  and  here 
they  remained  all  night.  A  water  carrier  gave  them 
water,  but  nothing  was  offered  them  to  eat.  Mar- 
garet says  that  none  but  the  little  children  slept,  that 
all  seemed  to  be  engaged  in  meditation  and  prayer. 
The  march  was  resumed  at  an  early  hour  in  the 
morning,  and  they  had  not  gone  far  until  they  met 
three  carriages  which  the  Nana  Sahib  sent  out  for  the 
ladies,  who  were  unable  to  walk  further.  When  they 
reached  the  station  it  was  still  very  early,  and  they 
were  shut  up  in  a  house,  the  native  servants  who  had 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  425 

accompanied  them  excepted.  Upon  the  latter  bemg 
told  that  they  must  leave  the  station  at  once  or  be  put 
to  death,  they  fled.  Here  Margaret's  account  of  them 
ends;  but  little  remains  to  be  told.  At  seven  a.m.  of 
the  same  day,  which  could  not  have  been  more  than 
an  hour  after  their  arrival,  they  were  all  taken  out  to 
the  parade  ground  and  shot,  without  reference  to 
age,  condition,  or  sex.  In  the  case  of  those  who  were 
only  wounded,  they  were  at  once  dispatched  with  the 
sword. 

I  had  this  from  an  eye-witness,  a  servant  of  the 
Maharajah  Dhalip  Sing,  who  accompanied  Mr. 
Elliott,  the  agent  of  the  Maharajah,  to  the  station. 
After  the  servants  were  ordered  off,  he  withdrew,  dis- 
guised himself,  and  mingled  with  the  throng  who 
witnessed  the  death  of  the  party,  that  he  might  see 
what  became  of  his  master.  Beyond  being  made 
prisoners,  marched  into  the  station  on  foot,  and  put 
to  death,  they  were  not  called  on  to  suffer  any  indig- 
nities. They  were  bound,  but  it  was  with  a  small 
cord,  and  it  was  done  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  give 
them  pain. 

God  in  mercy  seems  to  have  restrained  the  Nana 
Sahib  and  his  followers  in  the  case  of  this  party, 
though  they,  had  previously  been  guilty  of  the  most 
shocking  barbarities  towards  the  residents  of  the  sta- 
tion, and  though  they  were  afterwards  guilty  of  com- 
mitting outrages  upon  the  unfortunate  victims  who 
fell  into  their  hands,  which  render  Cawnpore  a  name 
of  terror  to  all  who  hear  it.  But  though  our  dear 
brethren  were  spared  what  others  suffered,  who  can 
estimate  what  they  suffered  before  leaving  Futteh- 


426  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

gurh,  by  the  way,  on  the  island,  below  Bithoor,  and  on 
the  sad  march  into  Cawnpore  ?  But  their  sufferings  are 
at  an  end.  What  is  so  dark  to  us  is  light  to  them. 
While  we  mourn  they  rejoice.  We  are  still  pilgrims 
and  strangers  in  the  earth,  and  know  not  what  toils 
and  trials  await  us;  but  their  pilgrimage  is  ended, 
their  toils  and  trials  past,  and  they  now  enjoy  the  rest 
that  remaineth  to  the  people  of  God.  May  their 
faith  and  hope  and  zeal  be  ours,  and  like  them  may 
we  be  found  following  where  the  Master  leads,  un- 
concerned about  the  toils  and  roughness  of  the  way; 
so  that  we,  too,  may  "finish  our  course  with  joy." 
You  may  perhaps  think  that  this  account  of  the  last 
days  of  our  much  lamented  brethren  is  unnecessarily 
minute.  But  I  have  thought  that  anything  concern- 
ing them  would  not  only  be  of  interest  to  you,  and  to 
their  many  relatives  and  friends  in  America,  who  be- 
wail their  loss,  but  to  the  church  whose  servants  they 
were. 

One  question,  and  I  am  done.  Who  is  to  take 
their  place?  Eight  laborers  have  fallen.  Who  will 
occupy  their  field  ?  Ask  the  theological  students  of 
America  this,  and  remind  them  that  "  He  that  reapeth 
receiveth  wages,  and  gathereth  fruit  unto  life  eternal. " 
Affectionately  yours, 

R.    S.    FULLERTON. 


Rev.   David  Irving,  D.D. 

We  record  with  tender  emotions  the  death  of  our 
esteemed  and  beloved  associate.  Rev.  David  Irving, 
D. D.,  which  occurred  at  his  home,  in  Orange,  N.  J., 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  427 

October  12,  1885,  in  the  sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
During  his  attendance  upon  tlie  Council  at  Belfast, 
last  year,  he  met  with  an  accident  from  which  he 
never  fully  recovered,  but  which  weakened  and  in  the 
end  paralyzed  his  entire  system  and  closed  his  useful 
life. 

The  services  at  his  funeral  and  burial  were  con- 
ducted by  Dr.  Wells,  President  of  the  Board;  Dr. 
John  Hall,  his  companion  at  the  Belfast  Council; 
Dr.  Yeomans,  pastor  of  Orange  Central  Church, 
where  his  family  worship;  Dr.  Hickok,  pastor  of 
Brick  Church,  Orange;  Dr.  Paxton,  of  Princeton, 
and  Dr.  Arthur  Mitchell,  Associate  Secretary.  The 
members  of  the  Board  attended  the  funeral  as 
mourners. 

The  memorial  sketches,  so  truthful  and  appropriate, 
spoken  at  the  funeral,  will  doubtless  be  gathered  in  a 
family  volume,  and  be  a  precious  memento  also  to 
many  outside  the  family  circle. 

Dr.  Irving  was  born  at  Annandale,  Dumfriesshire, 
Scotland,  August  31,  182 1.  He  pursued  his  classical 
education  in  Scotland,  and,  coming  to  America, 
was  graduated  at  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton. 

In  1846  he  went  to  India  as  a  missionary  of  this 
Board,  and  was  stationed  at  Futtehgurh,  but  after 
three  years'  service  was  obliged  to  return  home  in 
consequence  of  the  failing  health  of  Mrs.  Irving.  He 
then  became  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at 
North  Salem,  N.  Y.,  where  he  remained  five  years, 
when  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  First  Presbyterian 
Church  at  Morristown,  N.  J.     During  these  pastorates 


428  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

he  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  work  of  the  Foreign 
Board,  was  frequently  at  the  Mission  House  for  de- 
tailed information,  and  raised  greatly  the  standard  of 
beneficence  among  the  people  by  exciting  their 
special  interest  in  foreign  missions.  While  laboring, 
with  great  acceptance,  at  Morristown,  a  call  was  ex- 
tended to  him  to  become  Secretary  of  this  Board,  as 
the  associate  of  Walter  Lowrie  and  Dr.  John  C. 
Lowrie.  This  was  by  unanimous  vote  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  at  its  meeting,  April  17,  1865,  and 
was  ratified  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Board  in 
May  following. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  names  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  who  selected  Dr.  Irving  from  among 
the  prominent  men  of  the  church  for  this  important 
office.  The  members  present  at  the  meeting  were 
Drs.  John  M.  Krebs,  Nathan  L.  Rice,  John  D.  Wells, 
Charles  K.  Imbrie,  Messrs.  James  Lenox,  Robert  L. 
Stuart,  Robert  Carter,  Lebbeus  B.  Ward  and  J. 
Talbot  Olyphant,  and  ex-officio  Walter  Lowrie,  Dr. 
John  C.  Lowrie  and  William  Rankin. 

Though  dwelling  among  a  united  and  loving  peo- 
ple, and  enjoying  one  of  the  most  desirable  parishes 
in  the  country,  yet  his  love  for  the  work  to  which  he 
had  early  consecrated  his  life  led  him  to  accept  this 
trying  and  responsible  position  to  which  he  was  now 
called.  During  his  twenty  years  of  service,  Dr. 
Irving  performed  an  amount  of  labor  which  only  a 
strong  physical  constitution  could  have  undergone, 
and  which  the  volumes  of  official  correspondence  on 
our  shelves,  the  carefully  prepared  papers  on  mission 
subjects,  the  annual  reports,  and  the  Foreign  Mis- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  439 

sionary^  of  which  for  most  of  the  time  he  was  sole 
editor,  are  the  evidence. 

Dr.  Irving's  experience  as  a  missionary,  added  to 
his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  work  of  our  own  and 
kindred  societies,  and  his  wide  acquaintance  with  the 
churches,  gave  to  his  judgment  on  all  questions 
brought  before  the  Board  a  commanding  influence. 
His  official  correspondence  was  characterized  by 
clearness  of  conviction  and  expression,  tempered 
with  tender  sympathy.  He  loved  the  brethren  and 
loved  the  cause  in  which  they  together  labored,  and 
would  cheerfully  have  exchanged  places  with  any  of 
them  had  Providence  so  ordered. 

No  one  could  work  by  the  side  of  Dr.  Irving  with- 
out loving  him.  No  one  applied  to  him  in  times  of 
trial  and  perplexity  without  finding  a  sympathetic 
brother  and  wise  counselor.  We  present  (in  the 
November,  1885,  Foreign  Missionary)  a  pleasing 
likeness  of  our  deceased  Secretary,  which  will  be 
valued  by  hundreds  of  its  readers.  But  our  friend  is 
not  in  the  picture;  the  genial  face  that  smiled  so 
kindly  in  his  daily  greeting  is  wanting.  We  laid 
carefully  his  remains  in  Greenwood  Cemetery;  but 
Dr.  Irving  is  not  there.  He  has  gone  to  be  with  his 
loving  Lord  and  Saviour.  His  works  do  follow  him. 
— Foreign  Missionary^  November,  1885.         W.  R. 

Hon.   Walter  Lowrie. 

The  beloved  man  whose  name  stands  at  the  head 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland, 
December  10,    1784.     In  the  year   1792  his  parents 


430  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

came  to  this  country,  and,  after  a  short  sojourn  in 
Huntingdon  county,  settled  in  Butler  county,  Pa. 
Bringing  with  them  their  knowledge  and  love  of  the 
truth,  their  family  altar,  instruction  and  discipline, 
and  their  thorough  Presbyterianism,  they  helped  to 
give  tone  and  character  to  the  civil  and  religious  in- 
stitutions of  that  part  of  their  adopted  State.  Western 
Pennsylvania  remains  to  this  day  a  stronghold  of 
Presbyterianism. 

Walter  felt  the  quiet  and  powerful  influence  of 
home  culture.  Most  of  his  early  secular  instruction 
was  received  from  the  lips  of  his  parents.  By  them, 
too,  he  was  made  acquainted  with  the  truths  of  God's 
word  and  the  standards  of  our  church.  In  return 
for  this  Christian  nurture,  he  gave  himself,  till  early 
manhood,  to  the  toil  of  a  farmer  under  his  father's 
direction,  learning  some  great  practical  lessons, 
which  he  turned  to  excellent  account  at  later  periods 
of  his  life. 

After  his  conversion,  which  occurred  when  he  was 
eighteen  years  old,  he  entered  upon  a  course  of 
study,  with  the  ministry  in  view.  Under  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  John  McPherrin,  he  pursued  the 
Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew  languages  with  great  dili- 
gence and  success.  Inured  to  toil  from  boyhood, 
having  good  health,  a  strong  body,  and  a  mind  of 
fine  texture  and  firm  grasp,  he  made  light  of  difficul- 
ties that  comparatively  few  would  have  overcome. 
He  was  borne  forward,  too,  by  a  fervent  desire  to 
preach  the  gospel.  It  became  clear,  however,  after 
a  while,  that  God  was  preparing  him  for  a  different 
work.     Barriers  were  thrown  and  kept  in  his  way. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  43I 

until,  with  no  change  in  his  high  estimate  of  the 
sacred  office  to  which  he  had  aspired,  and  hoping  to 
resume  his  studies,  he  laid  them  aside  and  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  secular  life. 

In  i8ii  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  after  serving  the  State  seven  years  in 
this  office,  he  was  sent  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States. 

At  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service,  in  1824,  he 
was  made  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  and  held  the  office 
twelve  years.  Owing  to  the  peculiarly  delicate  nature 
of  this  office,  and  the  responsibility  connected  with 
it,  it  did  not  change  incumbents  with  successive  ad- 
ministrations. Mr.  Lowrie's  predecessor  enjoyed  its 
honors  and  emoluments  for  life,  and  he  might  have 
done  the  same.  Indeed  he  was  earnestly  solicited  by 
members  of  the  Senate,  without  reference  to  party 
distinctions,  to  retain  the  office.  But  his  purpose  was 
taken  and  nothing  could  move  him.  A  call  louder 
than  that  of  his  peers  in  the  state  had  come  to  him 
— the  call,  he  believed,  of  the  Head  of  the  church,  to 
take  charge  of  the  foreign  missionary  work,  to  which, 
as  a  denomination,  we  were  then  setting  our  hand. 

He  was  elected  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society  in  1836.  This 
office  he  accepted,  passing  under  the  care  of  the 
General  Assembly,  when  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions was  constituted  in  1837.  He  continued  in  the 
faithful  discharge  of  its  varied  duties,  until,  disabled 
by  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  he  laid  it  down  in  1868. 
He  had  not  drawn  his  salary  for  several  3xars  be- 
fore that  date,  and  would  not  retain  even  the  office, 


432  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

after  he  felt  himself  no  longer  able  to  discharge  its 
duties. 

Mr.  Lowrie's  public  life  as  a  statesman  can  be  re- 
viewed only  in  an  extended  memoir,  which  I  hope  we 
shall  have  in  due  season ;  still  I  cannot  pass  it  with- 
out two  or  three  suggestive  statements. 

It  covered  a  period  of  twenty-five  years,  from  1811 
to  1836.  He  was  twenty-seven  years  old  when  he 
entered  the  Senate  of  Pennsylvania,  and  fifty-two 
when  he  left  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  For  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  therefore,  he  was  the  associate 
of  public  men,  the  peer  of  great  men — and  was  recog- 
nized by  them  and  his  constituents  as  himself  a  great 
man.  Dr.  Paxton,  in  his  funeral  address,  published 
in  the  Foreign  Missionary  last  month,  tells  us  that 
"Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Randolph,  Benton  and 
many  others  scarcely  less  illustrious,  were  members 
of  the  Senate"  at  that  time,  and  adds:  "Among 
these  distinguished  Senators,  Walter  Lowrie  occupied 
a  position  of  honorable  prominence.  His  great  in- 
tegrity won  their  confidence,  whilst  his  peculiar 
sagacity  and  practical  judgment  led  them  to  seek  his 
advice,  and  rely  upon  his  opinions.  I  am  informed 
by  one  who  was  present  at  that  time,  that  he  was  re- 
garded by  the  Senators  who  knew  him  best,  as  an 
authority  upon  all  questions  of  political  history  and 
constitutional  law." 

Mr.  Lowrie's  Christian  character  was  tried,  and  at 
last  purified  and  ennobled,  while  he  remained  in  con- 
tact with  influences  that  prove  fatal  to  so  many  pub- 
lic men  professing  godliness.  He  impressed  himself 
strongly  upon  other  Christian  men,  and  even  upon 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  433 

those  in  high  places  who  were  not  religious.  But  he 
escaped  the  perils  of  his  position  only  through  the 
constant  and  powerful  influence  of  his  home,  the 
communion  of  saints,  and  the  grace  of  God  shed  on 
him  abundantly  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

It  should  be  stated,  too,  that  during  the  eighteen 
years  of  his  connection  with  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  he  was  receiving'  a  special  providential  train- 
ing for  the  work  to  which  God  was  about  to  call  him. 
One  might  as  well  deny  a  plan  of  God  in  the  case  of 
Moses  as  of  Mr.  Lowrie.  The  Jewish  lawgiver  was 
forty  years  in  the  family  and  court  of  Pharaoh,  forty 
in  the  land  of  Midian,  and  forty  at  the  head  of  the 
tribes;  the  last  third  of  his  life  embracing  the  years 
and  the  work  for  which  the  other  two-thirds  were  a 
constant  preparation.  A  similar  division  exists  in 
the  fewer  years  of  Mr.  Lowrie's  life ;  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  all  the  years  prior  to  his  connection  vv^ith 
the  Senate  of  his  own  State,  and  all  that  he  spent  in 
discharging  the  duties  of  a  statesman,  were  in  fact, 
and  were  meant  to  be,  preparatory,  in  many  ways, 
to  his  great  work  in  connection  with  the  cause  of 
missions. 

It  is  certain  that  our  work  among  the  Indian  tribes, 
encompassed  with  so  many  difficulties,  and  requiring 
correspondence  and  personal  influence  with  the  De- 
partment of  Indian  Affairs  at  Washington,  could  not 
have  been  successfully  carried  forward,  without  a 
very' intimate  knowledge  of  at  least  that  department 
of  the  government.  It  was  not  in  vain,  therefore, 
that  Mr.  Lowrie,  while  in  the  vSenate,  w^as  a  mcml^er 
of  the  Committee  on  Indian  Affairs,  and  profoundly 


434  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

interested  in  the  fate  and  the  evangcHzation  of  the 
tribes. 

So,  too,  he  cooperated  with  good  men  at  Washing- 
ton in  the  management  of  the  American  Colonization 
Society,  and  let  his  large  Christian  sympathies  flow 
out  toward  the  black  man  in  this  country,  and  on  the 
continent  of  Africa. 

With  India  he  was  brought  into  living  connection, 
while  still  Secretary  of  the  Senate,  by  the  departure 
of  his  eldest  son,  the  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie,  to  the 
northern  provinces  of  that  vast  country. 

By  a  strange  providence  he  was  led  to  give  his 
heart  to  the  Chinese  people,  before  God  called  him 
to  give  two  of  his  sons,  the  Rev.  Walter  M.  Lowrie 
and  the  Rev.  Reuben  Lowrie,  as  missionaries  to  the 
same  people :  the  first  to  meet  the  death  of  a  martyr, 
and  the  second  to  sink  under  the  climate  and  his 
severe  labors.  Of  these  two  sons  it  may  be  said  with 
perfect  truth,  that  they  were  among  the  ablest  and 
most  consecrated  men  ever  sent  by  the  church  to  the 
foreign  field. 

For  sometime,  I  do  not  know  how  long,  Mr. 
Lowrie  pursued  the  study  of  the  Chinese  language, 
rising  two  hours  earlier  than  usual,  not  to  interfere 
with  his  duties  as  Secretary  of  the  Senate.  In  this 
way  he  prepared  himself  in  some  measure,  before  he 
knew  the  plan  of  God  for  his  future  life,  for  the  work 
of  founding  and  conducting  missions,  at  the  very 
heart  of  the  pagan  world. 

It  is  but  little  that  can  be  said  in  this  sketch  of  Mr. 
Lowrie's  work  as  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions.     The  acceptance  of  the 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  435 

office  involved  great  self-denial  and  many  sacrifices; 
and  this  was  the  charm  by  which  the  office  secured 
its  incumbent.  So  he  himself  declared.  For  a  lucra- 
tive office,  he  chose  one  that  never  supported  his 
family.  He  abandoned  a  beautiful  home  with  ample 
grounds,  for  a  dwelling-  in  the  city  and  the  confine- 
ment of  an  office.  At  the  age  of  fifty-two  he  relin- 
quished a  post  of  honor,  with  the  duties  of  which  he 
had  become  perfectly  familiar,  and  which  were  com- 
paratively easy,  to  put  his  hand  to  a  work  which  no 
one  understood,  which  one  of  the  strongest  men  in 
our  church,  to  whom  its  oversight  was  offered,  de- 
clined to  undertake,  and  in  doing  which,  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  Mr.  Lowrie  found  no  rest  from  toil 
and  care  and  responsibility.  It  was  work  in  the 
office;  in  the  market  place;  at  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment; in  the  church;  and  among  our  Indian  tribes. 
He  had  valuable  counselors  and  willing  hands  to 
help  him,  but  it  was  his  habit  to  think  of  everything. 
He  was  immensely  and  minutely  practical,  and  even 
when  office  duties  had  become  so  heavy  that  help 
was  necessary,  and  his  own  natural  strength  was 
somewhat  abated,  he  held  his  mind  in  contact  with 
all  questions  of  policy,  and  most  of  the  plans  and 
estimates  for  prosecuting  and  enlarging  the  work. 

Few  persons,  probably,  can  appreciate  the  delicacy, 
the  difficulty,  and  the  importance  of  the  work  done 
in  the  office  by  a  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions.  He  is  in  contact  with 
the  missionaries  and  the  heathen,  on  the  one  hand; 
and  on  the  other,  with  the  kindred  of  the  missionaries, 
with  many  pastors  and  churches,    with   the  entire 


436  NECRO  LOGICAL   RECORD 

church  for  which  he  acts,  and  with  missionary 
societies  of  other  branches  of  the  Christian  church. 
He  is  cut  off  from  the  intimate  and  endeared  relation- 
ships to  families  and  churches,  that  pastors  enjoy. 
He  is  the  servant  of  all  men.  He  is  liable  to  frequent 
interruptions,  and  he  has  no  prospect  of  reward,  till 
his  work  ceases,  and  he  enters  into  rest. 

Mr.  Lowrie  was  preeminently  qualified  for  hard 
work  at  the  table,  and  among  the  details  of  office 
work.  His  mind  was  calm  and  judicial.  It  had  pos- 
session of  great  principles,  discovered  by  broad  in- 
quiry and  the  patient  study  of  particulars  relating  to 
his  work,  or  found  clearly  revealed  in  the  word  of 
God.  For  this  reason  his  letters  to  missionaries  and 
missions,  on  matters  of  vital  importance,  were  often 
so  direct  and  simple,  as  to  have  the  appearance — at 
least  to  those  not  familiar  with  the  full  details  of  the 
matters  under  consideration — of  being  common- 
place. Just  as  the  ablest  sermons,  that  treat  of  diffi- 
cult subjects  with  seeming  ease,  are  thought  to  be 
wanting  in  depth  and  power,  by  those  who  do  not 
know  at  what  a  cost  of  labor  such  results  are  reached. 

The  same  habits  of  mind  revealed  themselves  in 
the  deliberations  of  the  Executive  Committee  and  the 
Board.  Quietly  and  earnestly,  but  in  few  words,  and 
with  great  decision,  Mr.  Lowrie  expressed  his 
opinions.  He  was  not  afraid  to  be  in  a  minority  and 
even  alone,  because  his  convictions  were  so  strong. 
And  rarely  did  he  fail  to  fasten  his  own  convictions 
upon  other  minds. 

I  have  alluded  to  his  work  in  the  market  place. 
For  a  number  of  years  supplies  of  food  and  clothing, 


OF   THE    BOARD   OF    FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  437 

with  household  utensils  and  farming  implements, 
were  forwarded  from  New  York,  and  other  cities,  to 
our  Indian  missions  in  the  West  and  Southwest. 
This  imposed  an  immense  amount  of  labor  on  the 
office  of  our  Board  in  Centre  street;  and  in  this  labor 
Mr.  Lowrie  bore  his  part.  He  reckoned  nothing 
little,  or  beneath  his  personal  attention  and  toil,  that 
could  minister  to  the  welfare  of  the  missionaries  and 
those  under  their  care,  or  in  any  way  help  the  cause 
of  Christ. 

His  visits  to  Washington,  on  business  connected 
with  the  missions  among  the  Indians,  if  not  frequent 
from  year  to  year,  were,  in  the  aggregate,  very 
numerous.  They  always  taxed  his  strength  severely, 
and  often  called  into  requisition  all  the  experience 
and  influence  he  had  acquired  during  his  long  and 
intimate  association  with  the  Government. 

The  labors  of  Mr.  Lowrie,  in  the  church,  for  many 
years,  were  very  arduous  and  effective.  He  called 
upon  people  at  their  houses,  to  secure  contributions 
for  various  purposes  connected  with  the  work  of 
missions.  He  attended  monthly  concerts,  visited 
theological  seminaries,  presbyteries  and  synods, 
and  went  to  the  General  Assembly,  always  bearing 
on  his  heart  the  great  cause  of  foreign  missions. 
Many  will  remember  his  tender  and  persuasive  ad- 
dresses. Perfectly  familiar  with  all  the  details  of  the 
work,  the  wants  of  the  heathen,  the  feeble  responses 
of  the  church  to  calls  for  men  and  money  to  evangelize 
the  world,  and  knowing  well  the  ability  of  the  church 
to  do  all  that  the  providence  of  God  required,  and  the 
claims  of  Jesus  upon  his  blood-bought  people,   he 


430  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

made  his  statements  and  appeals,  with  such  force  and 
melting  tenderness,  as  to  call  forth  many  tears,  and 
produce  deep  and  lasting  impressions.  The  saving 
of  a  little  child  from  heathenism;  the  conversion  of 
an  Indian,  African,  Hindu,  or  Chinaman;  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  new  mission,  or  the  enlarging  of  an  old 
one,  was,  in  his  view,  a  matter  of  vast  moment  and 
sacred  interest.  He  wondered  that  Christian  men 
especially,  and  pastors  of  churches,  could  disparage 
the  missionary  papers,  that  were  constantly  reporting 
such  things.  With  great  simplicity,  and  often  in 
tears,  he  related  incidents  connected  with  the  progress 
of  missions,  and  relied  upon  them  to  impress  others 
as  they  did  himself. 

The  visits  of  Mr.  Lowrie  to  the  Indian  tribes  in 
our  country  were  among  the  most  arduous  and  im- 
portant of  all  his  official  labors.  It  was  the  writer's 
privilege  to  accompany  him  in  the  spring  of  1847  to 
vSpencer  Academy,  then  a  flourishing  school,  under 
the  care  of  our  Board,  among  the  Choctaw  Indians, 
about  ten  miles  from  the  Red  River,  and  a  hundred 
and  twenty-five  southwest  from  Fort  Smith  in 
Arkansas.  By  day  and  night  for  two  months,  in  all 
sorts  of  conveyances  and  apartments,  I  held  de- 
lightful fellowship  with  him  as  a  son  with  a  father. 
He  was  then  sixty-three  years  old. '  From  pretty  full 
notes  of  travel  taken  at  the  time,  it  would  be  easy  to 
give  a  very  definite  idea  of  the  hardships  he  endured, 
the  labor  he  performed,  and  the  varied  interests  he 
sought  to  promote.  He  never  spared  himself.  From 
the  29th  day  of  March  to  the  21st  of  April,  with  few 
interruptions,  we  were  making  our  way  by  rail,  by 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  439 

stage  and  by  steamer  to  Fort  Smith  at  the  head  of  navi- 
gation on  the  Arkansas  River. 

Under  date  of  Saturday,  April  3,  while  we  were  at 
Cincinnati,  I  find  this  record,  which  gives  a  hint,  at 
least,  in  regard  to  one  object  of  his  visit:  "Accom- 
panied Mr.  T and  Mr.  Lowrie  to  various  places, 

the  shops  of  artisans  of  different  kinds.  Mr.  Lowrie 
is  looking  at  grist  mills,  corn  shellers,  steam  engines 
and  a  carding,  spinning  and  weaving  machine,  with 
the  view  of  purchasing  some  or  all  of  them  for  use 
among  the  Indians." 

On  the  2ist  of  April,  we  took  horse  at  Fort  vSmith, 
and  passing  immediately  into  the  Indian  Territory, 
pursued  our  solitary  way  toward  Spencer  Academy. 
The  path  led  us  across  beautiful  rolling  prairies,  over 
rugged  hills,  and  through  bridgeless  streams.  At 
night  we  slept  in  Indian  houses,  and  partook  of  their 
coarse  but  plentiful  fare.  Our  midday  lunch,  con- 
sisting generally  of  a  little  bacon  and  some  corn 
dodgers,  was  eaten  beside  a  cool  spring,  or  clear 
brook,  where  we  tethered  our  horses,  and  rested 
awhile,  enjoying  the  perfect  solitude,  and  holding 
Christian  communion  never  to  be  forgotten.  Mr. 
Lowrie's  whole  being  was  open  to  impressions  from 
nature.  He  was  perfectly  at  home  among  the  lilies 
of  the  field,  the  trees  of  the  forest,  the  running 
streams,  and  the  everlasting  hills.  He  knew  the 
names  of  most  of  the  birds,  and  was  delighted  when 
once  we  came  suddenly  upon  some  deer  feeding  in  an 
oak  grove.  He  noticed  every  change  in  soil  and  in 
geological  formations,  and  would  readily  dismount  to 
secure  a  new  fossil.      He  was  quick  to  perceive  the 


440  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

points  of  beauty  in  a  landscape,  and  the  glories  of  the 
sky.  Often  his  heart  was  too  full  for  silence,  and 
burst  out  in  words  of  sacred  song,  or  Scripture, 
and  in  ascriptions  of  praise.  But  nothing  stirred 
him  so  deeply  as  living  contact  with  the  Indians 
themselves,  many  of  whom  we  saw  in  making  our 
horseback  journey  through  their  country.  His  heart 
was  melted  to  tenderness  for  them.  At  Spencer 
Academy  he  was  employed  almost  without  rest  from 
Saturday,  the  day  of  our  arrival,  until  Thursday  fol- 
lowing, in  arranging  family  matters;  projecting  im- 
provements on  the  buildings  and  the  farm ;  revising 
accounts;  hearing  the  recitations  of  the  scholars; 
conducting  and  enjoying  religious  worship  on  the 
vSabbath ;  and  conferring  with  the  chiefs  and  leading 
men  of  the  Choctaw  Nation. 

I  should  be  glad,  if  the  space  devoted  to  this 
sketch  would  allow  me,  to  give  an  account  of  the  last 
two  nights  of  our  return  journey,  for  the  purpose  of 
showing  to  what  discomforts  and  perils  Mr.  Lowrie 
willingly  submitted  in  the  prosecution  of  his  great 
work.  He  endured  hardness  as  a  good  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ.  From  thirty  to  fifty  miles  in  the  saddle, 
several  days  in  succession,  will  try  the  strength  of 
men  who  have  not  reached  their  sixty-third  birthday. 

At  Fort  Smith,  on  Monday,  May  3,  1847,  Mr. 
Lowrie  and  myself  parted  company;  he  to  pursue  his 
lonely  way  to  the  Creek,  Iowa,  and  Omaha  Missions, 
and  I  to  return  home.  I  conclude  this  notice  of  the 
journey,  by  a  short  extract  from  my  journal. 

''  This  morning  Mr.  Lowrie  took  an  early  start  on 
his  long  and  solitary  horseback  journey.      The  Rev. 


OF  THE    BOARD   OF   FOREIGN    MISSIONS.  44I 

Mr.  Marshal  (from  Van  Buren)  and  myself  accom- 
panied him  to  the  flat  boat,  and  saw  him  safely  over 
the  Arkansas  river,  and  mounted  on  his  'Charley.' 
He  waved  his  hat,  and  passed  on  to  do  his  important 
work,  cheerfully  sustaining  many  privations  and 
hardships.  He  goes  first  to  the  Creek  Mission,  thence 
across  the  country  to  Independence  on  the  Missouri 
river,  and  thence,  by  water,  if  possible  (but  if  not,  on 
horseback),  to  Council  Bluffs  and  the  Iowa  and  Omaha 
missions." 

This  was  only  one  of  several  visits  made  by  Mr. 
Lowrie  to  the  Indian  missions.  The  result  of  his 
personal  agency  in  behalf  of  the  tribes  under  our  care, 
and  the  abundance  of  his  labors,  with  the  greatness 
of  his  perils  and  hardships,  can  never  be  known  till 
the  Master  himself  reveals  them,  as  fruits  of  his  love 
and  devotion. 

I  think  of  Mr.  Lowrie  habitually,  as  one  to  whom 
the  sacred  description  of  Stephen,  the  first  Chris- 
tian martyr,  applies  without  any  qualification  or 
abatement — "A  man  full  of  faith  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. "  It  pleased  God  to  give  him  a  large  nature, 
and  a  peculiar  providential  training  for  the  work  he 
loved  so  well.  But  in  addition  to  this,  by  early  re- 
vealing to  him  the  plague  of  his  heart,  and  placing 
him  in  circumstances  where  his  own  strength  was 
felt  to  be  perfect  weakness  as  a  defense  against 
worldly  influences,  he  led  him  to  ask  until  he  ob- 
tained, in  large  measure,  that  most  precious  gift, 
"  Faith,  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen, "  The  infinite  objects  of 
the  Christian  hope  were  as  real  to  him  as  the  ground 


442  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

on  which  he  walked.  The  unseen  things  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  had  a  demonstrated  existence  to 
his  soul,  that  made  them  vastly  more  precious  and 
influential  than  all  the  objects  of  sense.  This  was  in 
part  the  secret  of  his  superiority  to  the  world,  and  the 
consecration  of  himself,  his  children,  and  his  pos- 
sessions, to  Christ  and  his  cause. 

But  it  is  not  without  design  that  Stephen  is  de- 
scribed as  a  man  "full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  as  well 
as  of  faith ;  and  this  part  of  the  description  has  its 
equal  meaning  in  reference  to  Mr.  Lowrie.  His 
thoughts,  affections,  and  purposes  were  controlled  by 
the  Holy  Ghost.  He  was  a  living  temple  of  the  living 
God.  A  person  of  the  Godhead  occupied  his  whole 
spirit  and  soul  and  body,  and  moved  him  by  the  Hol}^ 
Scriptures,  by  the  precious  ordinances  of  God's  house, 
by  sacred  providences  and  by  his  own  still  small  voice, 
as  clear  sometimes  to  the  consecrated  soul  as  the 
human  voice  to  the  ear,  to  keep  back  nothing  from 
his  Redeemer  and  Master,  to  spend  and  be  spent  for 
him;  to  forsake  all  that  he  had,  and  not  to  count  his 
life  dear  imto  him,  that  he  might  win  and  glorify 
Christ.  He  called  him  his  Master.  He  delighted  in 
his  service.  It  was  perfect  liberty  to  him  to  have 
every  thought  brought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience 
of  Christ.  No  doubt  he  had  his  faults,  but  I  do  not 
know  what  they  were,  unless  we  must  reckon  it  a 
fault  to  be  blunt  and  outspoken  against  evil,  to  de- 
nounce selfishness  that  sacrifices  the  precious  interests 
of  Christ's  cause  to  personal  ease  and  emolument, 
and  to  hate  falsehood  and  pretense. 

It  was  Mr.  Lowrie's  faith,  wrought  and  maintained 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  443 

by  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  gave  to  the  prophecies  and 
promises  of  Scripture,  relating  to  the  spread  and 
triumph  of  the  gospel  in  the  whole  world,  so  much 
power  over  his  heart  and  life.  Really  believing  that 
as  many  as  sin  without  law,  shall  also  perish  without 
law,  he  believed  that  in  the  last  days  the  mountain 
of  the  Lord's  house  shall  be  established  in  the  top  of  ^ 
the  mountains,  and  exalted  above  the  hills,  and  all 
nations  shall  flow  unto  it-:— that  Jesus  Christ  is  a  light 
to  lighten  the  Gentiles  and  the  glory  of  Israel ;  that 
there  is  no  other  name  under  heaven  given  among 
men  whereby  we  must  be  saved;  that  for  this  reason 
he  must  be  preached  among  all  nations,  and  the 
presence  and  power  of  his  Spirit  invoked  in  behalf 
of  all,  till  the  wilderness  and  solitary  places  of  the 
earth  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

In  this  faith  he  lived  and  died,  leaving  to  the  church 
a  legacy  of  toil  and  consecration  and  prayer,  which 
she  may  well  prize. 

Happy  in  his  second  marriage  as  in  his  first,  blessed 
in  his  children  and  children's  children,  and  also  in  his 
work,  he  came  to  the  grave  in  a  full  age,  like  as  a 
shock  of  corn  cometh  in  in  his  season.  Carlyle  cele- 
brates ''The  sumless  worth  of  a  man,"  and  Bayne 
in  his  Christian  Lifc\  with  more  Christian  views, 
dwells  upon  the  theme.  Surely  none  but  God  can 
make  such  a  man,  as  we  know  Mr.  Lowrie  was  and 
is,  and  to  him  let  all  the  glory  be  given.  His  face 
was  the  index  of  his  character,  the  mirror  of  his 
soul;  and  as  we  recall  it  now,  or  gaze  upon  its 
most  faithful  representation  in  Ritchie's  engraving, 
we  can  only  be  thankful  that  we  knew  and  loved 


444  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

him — and  that  now  he  rests  from  his  labors,  and  his 
works  do  follow  him. — Rev.  John  D.  Wells,  D.D. 

Rev.   Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D. 

My  pen  refuses  to  write  the  ''  late''  Dr.  Mitchell. 
He  is  not  a  Jias-been  but  an  is — a  living  power. 
*' Write  a  memorial,"  they  ask  of  me.  But  the 
memorial  is  written  in  the  characters  of  men  all  over 
the  country.  Words  will  die  on  the  air  and  fade  on 
the  page,  but  impression  of  character  is  perennial.  I 
feel  him  in  my  own  make-up.  I  see  him  in  the 
church  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  put  a  salutary  some- 
thing into  his  friends  and  the  church-at-large  that 
will  never  know  oblivion  or  decay.  "  Blessed  are 
the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  henceforth: 
Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from  their 
labors;  and  their  works  do  follow  them."  If  one 
man  can  know  another,  I  knew  Dr.  Mitchell.  We 
summered  and  wintered  together,  journeyed  and 
camped  together,  even  to  sleeping  in  a  haymow, 
studied  and  counseled  and  prayed  and  planned  for 
the  church,  and  played  together  for  our  personal  re- 
freshment. I  just  asked  my  wife  what  I  should  say 
about  him,  and  received  reply,  "You  cannot  say 
anything  too  good."  And  yet,  once,  when  I  was 
complaining  of  a  toothache,  he  responded,  "I  wish 
my  Christian  character  were  as  sound  as  my  teeth. " 
As  to  Christian  character  he  demanded  thoroughness 
of  himself,  and  as  to  outward  manifestation  he  knew 
no  fear  but  that  of  doing  wrong  or  failing  to  do 
right.      Once  in  Chicago,   when  a  daily  paper  sug- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  44.5 

gested  ''frightening  the  minister "  out  of  his  efforts 
at  a  certain  reform,  Dr.  R.  W.  Patterson  remarked 
to  me,  "  They'll  have  a  good  time  of  it  frightening 
Dr.  Mitchell  off."  The  fact  is  that,  a  bright  boy  and 
forward  yonth  in  scholarship,  being  graduated  from 
Williams  College  at  the  age  of  eighteen  years,  from  the 
time  of  his  conversion,  which  occurred  in  college,  he 
was  a  consecrated  man.  Whatever  he  felt  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  carrying  out,  to  the  letter,  the  spirit  of 
complete  consecration  to  the  cause  of  his  Lord,  must 
be  set  aside.  In  that  spirit  he  withdrew,  after  his 
conversion,  from  the  secret  (Greek  letter)  society,  of 
which  he  had  been  an  enthusiastic  member.  The  tie 
was  ''artificial,"  he  said,  and  weakened  the  broader 
one  of  humanity.  Such  membership,  he  felt,  limited 
his  personal  religious  influence  over  college  as  a 
whole  by  making  a  few  his  special  friends.  No 
barrier  should  be  allowed  which  threatened  to  hinder 
him  while  his  soul  was  saying  with  St.  Paul, 
"  From  henceforth  let  no  man  trouble  me:  for  I  bear 
in  my  body  the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus. "  Christo  et 
ecclesicE  seemed  written  on  his  very  heart.  In  all  the 
intimacy  of  personal  friendship  for  more  than  thirty 
years,  I  never  heard  one  sentiment  or  knew  one  act 
that  contravened  that  idea.  Careful  first  of  all  to  be 
faithful  to  his  Lord,  he  knew  how  to  be  fair  to  his 
fellows  and  just  between  those  who  differed.  As 
moderator  of  the  Presbytery  of  Chicago  through  the 
exciting  trial  of  Prof.  Swing,  he  won  the  approval  of 
all  parties  alike  for  the  justness  of  his  presiding. 
Once,  when  he  was  purchasing  a  piece  of  property  of 
me,  he  said:   "  Don't  be  particular  to  bargain  closely; 


446  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

the  money  is  all  the  Lord's  anyhow,  and  it  doesn't 
matter  what  Christian  hands  hold  it,"  and  so  paid 
me  more  than  I  had  asked. 

But  his  career  was  one  of  progress  and  culmina- 
tion. Leaving-  college  a  mere  boy,  he  went  directly 
to  Lafayette  College  as  instructor,  but  thence,  by  a 
sudden  opening,  on  a  protracted  tour,  covering  two 
years,  through  Europe,  Egypt  and  Palestine.  Enter- 
ing Union  Theological  Seminary,  New  York,  where 
I  was  in  his  class  from  1856  to  1859,  he  was  graduated 
at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  and  immediately  accepted 
a  call  to  Richmond,  Va.  He  took  with  him,  the  fol- 
lowing October,  as  a  bride,  to  share  his  work.  Miss 
Harriet  E.  Post,  daughter  of  the  distinguished  Alfred 
Post,  M.D.,  of  New  York. 

The  opening  of  the  war,  in  1861,  threw  Dr. 
Mitchell  into  a  ''strait  betwixt  two;"  for  he  had 
come  to  have  much  sympathy  with  the  South.  But 
the  issue,  made  as  it  was,  compelled  him  to  hold  with 
the  section  of  his  birth,  at  Hudson,  N.Y.  Sending 
his  family  North,  he  was  obliged  to  make  his  way 
through  the  lines,  by  night — an  escape  not  without 
peril — and  leaving  his  valuable  library  and  all  house- 
hold goods  to  confiscation.  Soon  called  to  Morris- 
town,  where  his  father,  one  of  the  most  dignified  and 
lovely  of  Quaker  gentlemen,  lived,  he  carried  forward 
a  most  prosperous  work  in  the  South  Presbyterian 
Church  until  1868,  when  he  was  called  to  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Chicago. 

At  Morristown  his  missionary  zeal,  kindled  out  of 
the  fire  of  his  conversion,  glowed  and  flamed  and 
heated  others,  attracting  popular  attention.     I  being 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  447 

then  in  Orange,  our  former  acquaintance  became  an 
intimacy.  Our  conferences  upon  church  hfe  and 
work  were  frequent ;  and  our  vacations,  often  passed 
together,  were  scarcely  restful,  because  one  theme 
was  ever  uppermost.  As  we  rode,  on  horseback, 
from  Portland,  Me.,  through  the  White  Mountains 
and  across  the  Green  to  Troy,  his  heart,  though  full 
of  merriment,  was  eager  for  the  letter-receiving  point 
ahead,  where  he  was  to  hear  the  result  of  a  foreign 
missionary  movement  which  he  had  left  incomplete 
when  starting.  His  twelve  years'  pastorate  in  Chicago 
was  distinguished  by  his  constant  and  successful 
efforts  to  see  the  Chicago  churches  inoculated  with 
zeal  for  missions.  Often  pressing  that  subject  with 
more  persistency  than  was  acceptable  to  his  people, 
there  was  yet  a  result  in  a  lire  kindled  that  has  gone 
on  burning  and  heating  and  fusing  those  churches  to 
the  present  moment.  While  there,  he  was  solicited 
to  accept  a  secretaryship  in  the  Foreign  Board ;  but 
his  love  for  the  pastorate  and  his  belief  that  in  that 
moneyed  and  Christian  centre  he  was  doing  more  for 
the  supreme  cause  (as  he  always  esteemed  missions) 
than  he  could  out  of  the  pastorate,  held  him  to  his 
position.  About  this  time  he  visited  Williams  College 
under  solicitation  to  take  a  professorship  there. 
He  spent  a  Sabbath  and  preached,  and  after  his  ser- 
mon President  Hopkins  took  him  by  the  hand  and  re- 
marked, "  One  who  can  preach  like  that  should  not 
leave  the  pastorate.     Stay  where  you  are." 

Later,  called  to  the  First  Presbyterian  Church, 
Cleveland,  O. ,  the  same  zeal  for  missions  vivified  his 
pastoral  work.     Again  called,  after  a  brief  pastorate 


448  NECROLOGICAL  RECORD 

there,  to  the  office  of  the  Foreig-n  Board  of  Missions, 
he  felt  more  than  formerly  impressed  with  a  possible 
duty  in  that  direction. 

I  recall  vividly  the  letter  that  came  to  me  express- 
ing" his  soul  agitation  as  to  duty,  and  seeking  advice. 
I  have  never  regretted  my  reply,  "Whatever  you 
weigh  as  a  pastor,  I  think  you  never  weigh  quite  so 
much  as  when  pleading  for  foreign  missions."  That 
cause  fired  and  fused  his  whole  soul.  To  that  he  was 
wholly  consecrated.  He  once  said  tome,  "A  man 
is  good  for  nothing  but  to  be  used  up;"  and  so 
literally  the  zeal  of  his  Father's  house  ate  him  up.  I 
have  no  doubt,  as  he  had  none,  that  he  might  have 
lived  longer  by  turning  from  the  Secretaryship  to  a 
pastorate.  "  You  don't  know  anything  about  work 
in  the  pastorate,"  he  lately  said  to  me,  "in  com- 
parison with  that  of  the  vSecretary's  office. "  It  is  not 
two  years  since  he  wrote  me  a  burning  letter  saying, 
"Get  me  a  little  pastorate.  I  shall  die  here  before 
my  time."  His  letter  was  so  hot  in  earnest,  that  I 
went  immediately  to  the  task;  but  just  as  my  ball 
was  starting,  there  came  a  telegram  saying:  "  Stay 
that  move,  I  must  remain  here,  if  I  die."  And  so  he 
has  done.  No,  "die  "is  not  the  word — not  dead. 
Planted  himself,  were  better  putting.  He  lives  a 
pulsing  power  through  all  the  church. 

I  do  not  believe  any  of  his  fellow  Secretaries  will 
turn  a  green  eye  upon  me,  or  call  my  judgment  in 
question  if  I  say  that,  as  a  platform  speaker  upon 
foreign  missions  he  has  had  no  superior  in  the  history 
of  the  Board  during  this  generation.  His  pastoral 
preaching  was   the   gospel   of    Christ.      Sometimes 


OF   THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  449 

stern,  I  have  heard  it  called  ''strait-laced,"  by  the 
easy-going.  But  his  standard,  if  higher  than  the 
average  communicant  was  ready  to  accept,  was  not 
higher  than  he  set  for  his  own  spiritual  measurement. 
He  was  in  himself  a  good  illustration  of  the  fact  that 
meekness  is  not  weakness.  The  lamb  and  the  lion 
are  rarely  so  well  combined  as  in  his  make-up  of 
Christian  manhood.  Then  he  was  such  a  dear  friend ; 
a  true  friend ;  a  timely  friend ;  a  friend  to  appreciate 
the  best  in  one  who  was  not,  for  the  moment,  at  his 
best,  but  even  making  a  mistake.  Life  is  too  far 
along  for  another  to  take  his  place  in  my  heart.  No 
one  will  take  his  place  in  the  church.  That  is  not 
wanted.  But  there  is  now  room  and  demand  for 
another  to  come  to  the  front,  to  take  things  where 
he  has  left  them,  fill  another  place  and  carry  them  on, 
on,  to  better  and  best  in  final  victory  for  Christ.  The 
cause  of  missions  is  the  child  he  has  left  for  loving 
friends  to  foster,  pouring  their  love  upon  it.  So  we 
shall  create,  in  an  enlightened  heathendom,  a  memorial 
that  he  will  look  down  upon,  and  strike  anew  his  harp 
in  praise  of  God  **  who  so  loved  the  world." — Rev.  J. 
H.  Taylor^  D,D.^  in  Church  at  Home  and  Abroad^ 
June,  1893. 

Rev.   Elisha  P.   Swift,   D.D. 

The  death  of  Dr.  Swift  (April  3,  1865)  removed 
one  of  the  great  and  good  from  the  church  and  the 
world,  whose  character  we  can  well  admire  and  whose 
memory  will  be  fondly  cherished.  He  was  born  in 
Williamstown,  Mass.,  August  12,  1792.     His  parents 


450  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

were  Rev.  Seth  and  Lucy  Swift.  His  mother  was  a 
direct  descendant  of  the  famous  Puritan  missionary, 
Rev.  John  EUot. 

In  July,  1813,  he  made  a  profession  of  religion  at 
Stockbridge,  Mass. ,  and  was  graduated  at  Williams 
College  in  the  same  year.  He  completed  his  theo- 
logical course  at  Princeton  in  1 8 1 6.  Very  soon  after  his 
connection  with  the  church  he  seems  to  have  taken  a 
very  active  part  in  the  movements  then  in  progress 
in  regard  to  the  foreign  missionary  work.  We  have 
seen  a  report  made  by  him  to  the  Youths'  Missionary 
Society  of  Western  New  York  previous  to  his  ordina- 
tion to  the  full  work  of  the  ministry.  At  length  he 
dedicated  himself  to  the  Lord's  work  in  the  foreign 
field.  In  a  paper  discovered  since  his  death,  but  writ- 
ten just  previous  to  the  completion  of  his  course  in 
the  theological  seminary,  he  gives  expression  to  the 
great  anxiety  felt  in  view  of  acting  as  an  ambassador 
for  Jesus,  and  especially  in  prospect  of  going  to  East- 
ern Asia  to  make  known  the  glorious  gospel  of  the 
blessed  God. 

On  September  3,  18 17,  he  along  with  three  others 
was  ordained  a  foreign  missionary.  The  sermon  on 
that  occasion  was  preached  by  Rev.  Lyman  Beecher, 
D.D.  From  November,  181 7,  to  March,  18 18,  he 
was  engaged  in  a  missionary  agency  collecting  funds 
and  awakening  the  people  to  the  claims  of  this  great 
enterprise,  through  Ohio,  Indiana,  Kentucky  and 
Virginia,  imder  direction  of  the  American  Board,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Worcester  being  at  that  time  its  Secretary. 
The  reason  he  did  not  go  abroad  as  was  expected 
seems  to  have  been  the  serious  and  long-continued 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  45 1 

illness  of  his  wife's  mother.  But  the  missionary 
spirit  never  forsook  him ;  and  it  appeared  afterwards 
that  the  descendant  of  John  Eliot  was  kept  at  home 
that  he  might  impart  to  the  church  something  of  the 
fire  that  burned  within  himself.  He  began  his  labors 
in  Dover,  Del.,  October,  1818.  In  the  following 
.  year  he  received  an  invitation  to  become  pastor  of  the 
second  church  of  Pittsburgh,  which  he  accepted,  and 
was  installed  November  5,  18 19. 

He  was  among  the  very  first  to  advocate  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
by  the  Synod  of  Pittsburgh,  from  which  sprang  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  That  he  might  devote  himself  to  this  new 
enterprise,  he  consented  to  the  separation  of  himself 
from  a  people  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  attached,  and 
who  loved  him  much  in  return.  He  entered  on  his 
labors  as  Secretary  of  the  Western  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  March  i,  1833.  Into  this  work  he  threw  all 
the  mighty  energies  of  his  great  soul,  and  gave  it  an 
impulse  which  was  soon  felt  throughout  the  entire 
Presbyterian  church  in  this  country — among  the 
Indians  in  the  West,  on  the  shores  of  Africa  and  on 
the  plains  of  India.  While  the  Presbyterian  church 
lasts,  as  long  as  the  history  of  foreign  missions  re- 
mains, the  name  of  Elisha  P.  Swift  will  be  remembered. 
He  was  at  all  times  ready  to  advocate  with  wonderful 
power  every  good  cause,  but  the  very  mention  of 
foreign  missions  fired  his  soul  with  quenchless  ardor 
and  made  his  voice  the  sound  of  a  trumpet  calling  to 
conflict  and  victory. 

On  the  9th  of  October,  1835,  he  was  installed  pastor 


452  NECROLOGICAL   REuORD 

of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  Allegheny,  in 
which  service  he  continued  until  the  day  of  his  death, 
April  3,  1865,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age. 
(He  continued  to  discharge  the  office  of  Secretary 
until  1836,  when  his  successor,  Hon.  Walter  Lowrie, 
was  appointed.) — Pittsburgh  Banner^  April  12,  1865. 

Rev.   John  Leighton  Wilson,   D.D. 

The  venerable  Secretary  Emeritus,  Rev.  J.  Leigh- 
ton  Wilson,  D.D.,  died  at  his  home,  near  Mayesville, 
S.C,  on  the  13th  of  July,  1886. 

His  death,  says  one  who  waited  by  him,  was  em- 
blematic of  his  life — calm,  peaceful,  beautiful. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  pen  of  another  for  a  sketch 
of  Dr.  Wilson's  life  and  character.  He  was  born  in 
Sumter  County,  S.  C,  March  25,  1809.  He  was 
graduated  at  Union  College,  N.  Y.,  in  1829,  and 
taught  school  one  year  at  Hadnel's  Point,  near  Char- 
leston, S.  C.  In  1833  he  was  graduated  at  the  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  Columbia,  S.  C. ,  being  a  member 
of  the  first  class  of  that  institution,  and  the  same 
year  was  ordained  by  Harmony  Presbytery  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Africa.  During  the  summer  of  1833  he 
studied  Arabic  at  Andover  Seminary,  Mass. ,  and  in 
the  fall  he  sailed  from  Baltimore,  Md. ,  on  a  voyage 
of  exploration  to  Western  Africa,  returning  the  fol- 
lowing spring.  As  the  result  of  his  exploration,  he 
decided  on  Cape  Palmas,  Western  Africa,  as  the  most 
promising  place  to  begin  his  missionary  work.  In 
May,  1834,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Jane 
Elizabeth  Bayard,  of   Savannah,  Ga.     In   1834,  Mr. 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  453 

and  Mrs.  Wilson  sailed  for  Cape  Palmas,  where  they 
arrived  at  the  close  of  the  year.  They  remained  at 
the  Cape  seven  years.  During  these  years  a  church 
of  forty  members  was  organized,  more  than  a  hundred 
and  eighty  youths  were  educated,  the  Grebo  language 
was  reduced  to  writing,  a  grammar  and  dictionary  of 
the  language  was  published,  the  Gospels  of  Matthew 
and  John  were  translated,  and,  with  six  or  eight 
other  small  volumes,  published  in  the  native  lan- 
guage. In  1842  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  removed  to  the 
Gaboon  River,  1200  miles  south  of  Cape  Palmas,  and 
commenced  a  new  mission  among  the  Mpongwe 
people.  Here,  again,  the  language  was  reduced  to 
writing  for  the  first  time.  A  grammar,  a  vocabulary, 
portions  of  the  Bible  and  a  number  of  small  volumes 
were  published  in  the  native  language.  In  the  spring 
of  1853,  owing  to  the  failure  of  Mr.  Wilson's  health, 
he  and  his  wife  returned  to  America.  In  the  autumn 
of  1853  he  entered  the  office  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  in  New  York,  and  con- 
tinued to  serve  as  Secretary  until  the  breaking  out  of 
the  civil  war,  when  he  returned  to  his  home  in  the 
South.  At  the  organization  of  the  Southern  Presby- 
terian Church,  Dr.  Wilson  was  appointed  Secretary 
of  Foreign  Missions.  This  office  he  continued  to 
hold  until  1885,  when  the  General  Assembly,  in  view 
of  his  declining  health,  relieved  him  of  the  active 
duties  of  the  office  and  elected  him  Secretary 
Emeritus.  During  seven  years  of  his  active  service 
in  the  office,  the  home  mission  work  was  combined 
with  that  of  foreign  missions,  Dr.  Wilson  sharing  in 
the  care  of  both. 


454  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

In  1854  Dr.  Wilson  published  a  volume  of  five 
hundred  pages  on  "  Western  Africa,  its  History,  Con- 
dition and  Prospects."  Dr.  Livingstone  pronounced 
this  the  best  volume  on  that  part  of  Africa  ever  pub- 
lished. 

In  1852  a  strong  effort  was  made  in  the  British 
Parliament  to  withdraw  the  British  squadron  from 
the  coast  of  Africa,  under  the  impression  that  the 
foreign  slave  trade  could  not  be  broken  up.  Dr. 
Wilson  wrote  a  pamphlet  showing  that  the  impression 
was  erroneous,  and  indicating  what  was  wanting  to 
make  the  effort  to  suppress  the  slave  trade  successful. 
The  pamphlet  fell  into  the  hands  of  Lord  Palmerston, 
and  was,  by  his  order,  published  in  the  United  Service 
Journal^  and  afterward  in  the  ''Blue  Book"  of  Par- 
liament. An  edition  of  10,000  copies  was  circulated 
throughout  the  kingdom.  Lord  Palmerston  informed 
Dr.  Wilson  that  this  pamphlet  put  an  end  to  all 
opposition  to  the  continuance  of  the  squadron;  and 
in  less  than  five  years  the  trade  itself  was  brought  to 
an  end. 

During  his  residence  in  New  York,  Dr.  Wilson 
acted  as  editor  of  the  Foreign  Department  of  the 
Home  and  Foreign  Record.  In  our  own  church  he 
began  The  Missionary^  of  which  he  continued  to  be 
editor  till  recently.  He  published  more  than  thirty 
articles  in  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Review  and  in 
other  literary  and  scientific  reviews.  While  in 
Africa  Dr.  Wilson  procured  and  sent  to  the  Boston 
Society  of  Natural  History  the  first  specimen  of  the 
gorilla  known  in  modern  times. 

The  commanding  presence  of  Dr.  Wilson  and  his 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  455 

affable  and  courteous  address  will  be  remembered  by 
many  in  the  church.  His  features  indicated  physical 
and  intellectual  strength.  His  varied  information 
made  him  the  attractive  centre  of  the  social  circle. 
He  was  just  in  judgment,  w4se  in  council,  practical 
in  methods.  His  public  life  covered  more  than  fifty 
years.  These  fifty  years  have  recorded  wonderful 
progress  in  the  foreign  mission  work.  They  con- 
stitute a  great  missionary  age  in  the  history  of  the 
church.  Among  the  great  workers  in  this  branch  of 
Christian  service  Dr.  Wilson  has  stood  with  the  first. 
By  the  grace  of  God  he  has  served  his  generation 
nobly,  received  the  loving  veneration  of  the  people 
among  whom  he  lived,  and  will  long  be  remembered 
among  us  as  a  prince  and  a  great  man.  —  The  Mis- 
sionary^ August,  1 886. 


As  THIS  volume  of  sketches  opened  with  an  Intro- 
duction by  the  compiler  to  the  year  1868,  and  whose 
initials,  J.  C.  L.,  are  affixed  to  many  of  them  both 
before  and  after  that  date,  these  appendices  may 
appropriately  close  with  Dr.  Lowrie's  letter  of  resig- 
nation as  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  the  action  of 
the  Board  thereon,  together  with  the  just  and  touch- 
ing editorial  preface  to  their  publication  in  the  CJiurch 
at  Home  and  Abroad  for  April,  1891. 

His  associate  in  official  duties  for  thirty-eight  years 
adopts  the  words  of  that  preface  as  an  expression 
of  his  own  appreciation,  reverence  and  affection. — 
W.  R. 


456  necrological  record 

Dr.   Lowrie's  Resignation. 

Reverently  and  affectionately  do  we  give  this  fore- 
most place  in  our  pages  to  the  following  official  cor- 
respondence. Reverently,  affectionately  and  thank- 
fully will  it  be  read  in  every  land  in  which  the 
church  of  Christ  is  fulfilling  her  great  commission  to 
disciple  all  nations.  Thankfully  will  myriads  of 
Christian  people  (thousands  of  whom  are  converts 
from  idolatry),  recognize  the  kindness  of  God  in  pre- 
serving to  such  advanced  age  the  mental  and  bodily 
powers  so  long  ago  devoted  to  him  in  the  freshness 
and  vigor  of  youth — powers  inherited  from  an  honored 
father  who  had  so  signally  served  the  church  in  the 
same  department  of  labor.  Affectionately  will  the 
whole  church  approve  the  considerate  action  of  their 
Board  in  desiring  Dr.  Lowrie,  exempt  from  all  burden 
of  labor,  to  continue  his  presence  and  counsels  in  the 
Mission  House,  and  with  no  diminution  of  provision 
for  his  comfort.  Reverently  will  the  thoughts  of 
God's  people  in  many  lands  go  often  to  that  room ; 
and  the  sun  never  sets  upon  the  sanctuaries,  family 
altars  and  closets  in  which  Dr.  Lowrie  will  be  prayer- 
fully mentioned.  • 

"At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  held  February  i6,  1891,  the  following  letter 
of  resignation  was  presented  from  the  Rev.  John  C. 
Lowrie,  D.D.,  senior  Secretary  of  the  Board: 

"  'New  York,  February  16,  1S91. 
*''To    THE    Members   of    the    Board    of    Foreign 
Missions: 
*'  ''Dear  Brethren  : — The  subject  of  my  official  con- 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  457 

nection  with  the  Board  has  for  several  years  been 
often  in  my  thoughts  and  prayers,  with  the  impression 
that  it  should  come  to  an  end.  I  have,  however, 
heretofore  left  it  in  abe3^ance,  or  rather  to  the  action 
of  the  Board  itself.  But  lately  I  have  concluded  to 
resign  the  office  of  a  Corresponding  Secretary,  and  I 
now  write  to  send  in  this  decision,  to  take  effect  at 
your  convenience.  This  is  the  result  of  further 
study  of  the  orderings  of  Providence.  It  accords 
also  with  the  views  which  I  held  and  expressed  in  the 
Board  when  I  accepted  its  appointment  to  a  full  sec- 
retaryship many  years  ago. 

'''I  may  add  a  few  lines  to  say  that,  although  I 
never  sought  this  office,  and  was  greatly  in  doubt  as 
to  accepting  it,  and  though  my  work  in  it  has  been 
marked  by  far  too  many  imperfections,  yet  I  have 
been  very  grateful  to  God  and  to  his  people  for  having 
been  permitted  to  spend  so  many  uninterrupted  years 
in  this  cause — since  June,  1832,  to  the  present  time. 
But  this  change  is  indeed  to  be  a  sorrowful  event. 
Yet  it  seems  to  be  so  ordered;  and  good  is  the  will 
of  the  Lord. 

"  *  I  am  glad  to  close  this  letter  with  no  doubt  as  to 
the  final  and  great  success  of  the  foreign  missions  of 
our  beloved  church.  As  church  work,  these  missions 
rest  on  the  doctrines,  order  and  evangelistic  agencies 
of  our  Christian  people,  as  witnesses  unto  Christ  our 
ascended  Lord.  He  will  assuredly  give  to  them  his 
blessing. 

*'  'With  grateful  acknowledgments  of  the  uniform 
kindness  I  have  always  received  from  the  members 
of  the  Board  and  from  my  colleagues,  in  our  common 


458  NECROLOGICAL   RECORD 

labors  for  our  Saviour,  and  with  earnest  wishes  for 
every  blessing-  from  on  high  to  abide  with  this  sacred 
cause,  I  am,  dear  brethren, 

*  *  *  Yours  sincerely, 
(Signed)  John  C.  Lowrie.* 

''After  tender  expressions  of  affection  for  Dr. 
Lowrie  and  appreciation  of  his  long  service  as  mis- 
sionary in  India,  and  subsequently  as  agent  of  the 
Board  in  the  United  States,  Assistant  Secretary  and 
Secretary,  the  following  paper,  presented  by  Rev. 
William  M.  Paxton,  D.D.,  was  adopted: 

''  A  communication  from  the  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie, 
D.D.,  was  received,  expressing  his  conviction  that 
owing  to  advancing  age  and  providential  circum- 
stances, he  feels  constrained  to  tender  his  resignation 
of  the  official  position  as  Secretary  of  this  Board, 
which  he  has  held  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

"The  Board  has  listened  to  this  communication 
with  saddening  thoughts  and  many  tender  emotions 
at  the  idea  of  separating  from  one  who  has  been 
endeared  to  us  by  so  many  years  of  official  inter- 
course, and  of  affectionate  fraternal  communion.  It 
gives  us  much  pleasure  to  record  our  high  apprecia- 
tion of  the  ability,  fidelity,  diligence  and  conscien- 
tiousness with  which  he  has  served  this  Board,  and 
the  general  cause  of  missions.  We  recognize  with 
thankfulness  his  careful  study  of  all  practical  ques- 
tions, his  wise  direction  in  matters  of  administration, 
his  kindly  and  brotherly  spirit  in  the  discussion  of 
vexed  questions,  and  the  assistance  which  his  diligent 
attention  and  wise  superintendence  have  given  to  us 


OF  THE   BOARD   OF   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.  459 

through  SO  many  years  of  missionary  work.  We 
could  not  in  justice  to  our  own  feelings  accept  his 
resignation  without  adding  this  expression  of  our 
high  veneration  for  his  personal  worth,  and  our  deep 
regret  that  the  time  has  come  when  he  feels  it  neces- 
sary to  retire  from  the  active  duties  of  his  office. 

**  Therefore^  be  it  Resolved: — 

''  I.  That  the  resignation  of  Rev.  John  C.  Lowrie, 
D.  D. ,  as  Secretary  of  this  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
be  accepted  to  take  effect  at  the  close  of  the  present 
fiscal  year;  in  the  meantime  that  he  be  requested  to 
prepare  the  annual  report  of  the  missions  with  which 
he  has  the  correspondence,  and  that  he  transfer  said 
correspondence  to  his  colleagues  at  his  convenience, 
and  thereafter  continue  in  such  form  of  service  as  his 
health  and  convenience  will  permit,  and  as  may  be 
deemed  helpful  to  the  interests  of  the  Board. 

*'  2.  Resolved^  That  he  be  requested  to  accept  the 
position  of  Emeritus  Secretary;  that  his  salary  be 
continued  as  heretofore ;  that  the  room  which  he  has 
occupied  in  this  building  shall  remain  for  his  occu- 
pancy; that  while  relieved  from  the  active  conduct 
of  the  mission  and  attendance  at  the  Council,  he  be 
requested  to  still  occupy  his  seat  in  the  Board  and 
favor  us  with  his  experience  and  advice. 

"  3.  Resolved^  That  a  committee  of  four  members 
of  this  Board  be  appointed  to  convey  this  action  to 
Dr.  Lowrie,  and  consult  with  him  as  to  whether  the 
Board  can  do  anything  further  to  meet  his  wishes 
and  render  his  position  agreeable  and  useful." — 
CJiurcJi  at  Home  and  Abroad^  April,  1891. 


SUMMARY  BY  MISSIONS. 


Africa. 

DIED.  PAGE, 

Alward,  Rev.  Jonathan April  21,1841  16 

Amos.  Rev.  James  R 1864  16 

Barr,  Rev.  Joseph  W Oct.    26,  1832  18 

Bockhn,  Rev.  Edward Sept.  28,  1868  22 

Brier,  Rev.  B.  B May    14,  1890  22 

Bushnell.  Rev.  Albert Dec.      2,  1879  28 

Canfield,  Rev.  Owen  K May      7,  1842  50 

Clemens,  Rev.  William June  24,  1862  55 

Cloud,  Rev.  John April          1834  57 

Cranshaw,  Mrs.  Ida  D Jan.     29,  1891  74 

DeHeer,  Rev.  Cornelius Oct.    20,1889  96 

DeHeer,  Mrs.  Cornelius April    7,  1857  96 

Deputie,  Rev.  John  M July    29,  1887  97 

Dewsnap,  Miss  Susie Aug.  17,  1881  97 

Donnell,  Rev.  D.  L Jan.    22,  1879  97 

Eden,  Rev.  James June     1,1847  98 

Good,  Rev.  AdolphusC Dec.    13,1894  120 

Harrison,  Simon Nov.     7,  1872  152 

Herring,  Rev.  Amos June  14,  1873  155 

James,  B.  V.  R Jan.      9,  1869  165 

Laffin,  Mrs.  Dr.  C.  F Nov.     3,  1894  179 

Laird,  Rev.  Matthew Mar.     4,  1834  180 

Laird,  Mrs.  Matthew Mar.     3,  1834  180 

Loomis,  Mrs.  H.  E Aug.  20,1861  200 

Mackey,  Rev.  James  L April  30,  1867  211 

Mackey,  Mrs.  James  L Mar.  11,  1850  213 

McQueen,  Rev.  George Mar.  25,  1859  221 

Menkel,  Mrs.  Peter .    .June  13,1893  225 

461 


462  SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS. 

DIED.  PAGE. 

Miller,  Rev.  Armistead Jan.    18,  1865  16 

Nassau,  Mrs.  Mary  Latta Sept.   10,  1870  238 

Nassau,  Mrs.  Mary  Brewster Aug.     6,1884  239 

Ogden,  Rev.  Thomas  S May   12,  1861  260 

PauU,  Rev.  George May   14.  1865  264 

Perry,  Mrs.  F.  J Jan.      7,  1889  270 

Priest,  Rev.  James  M May   17,1883  283 

Priest,  James  R Dec.    19,  1880  283 

Reutlinger,  Rev.  Solomon July   17,  1869  303 

Sawyer,  Rev.  Robert  W Dec.     i,  1843  307 

Simpson,  Rev.  George  W April         1861  335 

Simpson,  Mrs.  George  W April         1861  338 

Williams,  Mrs.  Sarah  W June  12,1855  368 

Williams,  Rev.  Edwin  T 1865  368 

Wilson,  Rev.  Thomas Sept.    3,1846  385 

American  Indians. 

Ainsley,  Mrs.  Mary  I Feb.  14,  1861  15 

Barber,  Miss  Sarah  P Oct.    10,  1859  17 

Deffenbaugh,  Mrs.  George  L Jan.      3,1887  95 

Fleming,  Mrs.  Mary May          1839  loi 

Graham,  Rev.  Alexander  J July   23,  1850  134 

Greenleaf,  Miss  Mary  C June  26,  1857  138 

Hall,  Rev.  William Sept.  29,  1894  138 

Hall,  Mrs.  William Feb.    17,  1882  141 

Hamilton,  Rev.  William Sept.  17,  1891  143 

Hamilton,  Mrs.  William April  29,  1868  143 

Irvin,  Rev.  Samuel  M Feb.   24,  1887  160 

Irvin,  Mrs.  Samuel  M July    21,1886  160 

Loughridge,  Mrs.  Olivia Sept.  17,  1845  204 

Loughridge,  Mrs.  Mfiry  A Jan.    25,  1850  204 

McBeth,  Miss  Sue  L May   26,  1893  214. 

McKean,  Miss  M.iry  H Jan.    21,  1861  217 

Ramsay,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  P July    17,  1849  284 

Ramsay,  Mrs.  Jane  M May   30,  1853  285 

Reid,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Graham June     4,  1854  301 

Robertson,  Rev.  William  S June   26,1881  305 

Silliman,  Rev.  C.  J 1857  328 

Spaulding.  Rev.  H.  H Aug.     3,  1874  342 

Stark,  Rev.  Oliver  P April    4,  1884  348 


SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS.  46J 

DIED,  PAGE. 

Templeton,  Mrs.  Catharine  M July  3,  1857  349 

Williams,  Mrs.  James May  28,  1863  367 

Williamson,  Rev.  Thomas  S  ..........    .June  24,  1879  3^9 

Wright,  Rev.  Asher April  13,  1875  390 

Wright,  Mrs.  Asher Jan.  21,  1886  393 

Brazil. 

Blackford,  Rev,  A.  L      May  14,  1890  21 

Carrington,  Mrs.  W.  A Dec,  26,  1891  54 

Houston,  Mrs.  J.  T Mar.  12,1881  158 

Pinkerton,  Rev,  Edgar  M.  Dill Feb.  23,  1892  272 

Simonton,  Rev,  Ashbel  G Dec,  9,  1867  328 

Simonton,  Mrs.  Helen June  27,  1864  333 

Waddell,  Mrs.  Mary  L Nov.  i,  1893  360 

Chili. 

Ibanez,  Rev.  J.  M 1875  ^59 

Lester,  Mrs.  W.  H       July  30,  1884  182 

Trumbull,  Rev.  David Feb.  i,  1889  355 

China. 

Abbey,  Rev.  Robert  E Oct.  9,  1890  11 

Ah  Yiung Dec.  25, 1866  12 

Butler,  Rev.  John Oct.  12,  1885  31 

Byers,  Rev.  John May  7,  1853  33 

Capp,  Rev,  Edward  P Oct,  26,  1873  51 

Capp,  Mrs.  Edward  P Feb.  15,  1882  52 

Condit,  Mrs.  Laura Dec.  5,  1866  66 

Corbett,  Mrs.  Hunter  (i) Mar.  10,  1873  67 

Corbett,  Mrs.  Hunter  (2)    , Oct.  7,  1888  67 

Coulter,  Moses  S Dec.  12,1852  70 

Crossett,  Rev.  J.  Fisher June  21,  1889  74 

Culbertson,  Rev.  M,  S Aug.  28,  1862  tj 

Danforth,  Mrs,  Joshua  A Sept,  13,1861  87 

French,  Rev.  John  B Nov.  30,  1858  108 

Gayley,  Rev.  Samuel  R July  29,1862  114 

Hamilton,  Mrs,  William  B Jan.  13,  1889  144 

Happer,  Rev.  Andrew  P    .    .    .            Oct.  27,  1894  ^45 

Happer,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  B Dec.  29,  1865  150 


464  SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS. 

DIED.  PAGH. 

Happer,  Mrs.  A.  P.  (Elliott).    .    .       Oct.    10,  1873  152 

Kerr,  Mrs.  John  G.  (i) Aug.   24,  1855  178 

Kerr,  Mrs.  John  G.  (2) April    1,1885  178 

Laughlin,  Mrs.  J.  H July    29,  1884  180 

Ling  Yien,  Rev.  Kying Aug.     4,1866  184 

Lingle,  Mrs.  W.  H Nov.     5,  1893  184 

Lowrie,  Rev.  Walter  M Aug.   18,  1847  207 

Lowrie,  Rev.  Reuben April  26,  i860  207 

Mateer,  Mrs.  Robert  M April         1886  214 

McChestney,  Rev.  William  E July     9,  1872  215 

Mcllvaine,  Rev.  Jasper  S Feb.      2,  1881  216 

McKee,  Rev.  William  J July    21,  1894  218 

Mills,  Mrs.  Charles  R Feb.     3,  1874  225 

Mills,  Mrs.  F.  V Feb.   16,  1891  225 

Mitchell,  Rev.  John  A Oct.      2,1838  226 

Morrison,  Rev.  William  T Dec.    10,  1869  228 

Nevius,  Rev.  John  L Oct.    19,  1893  240 

Noyes,  Mrs.  Cynthia  C Aug.     8,  1866  253 

Orr,  Rev.  Robert  W Mar.  30,1857  226 

Preston,  Rev.  Charles  F      July    17,1877  277 

Quarterman,  Rev.  John  W    .    . Oct.    13,  1857  283 

Rankin,  Rev.  Henry  V July      2,  1863  288 

Ritchie,  Rev.  Ellsworth Sept.  12.  1890  303 

Shaw,  Rev.  James  M June   11,1876  327 

Speer,  Mrs.  Cornelia April  24,  1847  344 

White,  Rev.  Wellington  J July    27,1891  363 

Whiting.  Rev.  Albert April  25,  1874  3^4 

Young,  Rev.  John  N Feb.    18,1893  398 

Chinese  in  United  States. 

Baskin,  Miss  Mary  M May   30,1892  18 

Goodrich,  Miss  S.U May     2.1882  129 

Loomis,  Rev.  A.  W July   26,  1891  202 

Loomis,  Mrs.  Mary  Ann Dec.   12,  1866  203 

Columbia. 

Findley,  Prof,  W.  W Aug.  21,  1889  100 

Ramsay,  Miss  Addie  E Aug.  19,1889  285 

Sharpe,  Rev.  Samuel  M Oct.    30,  i860  326 


SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS.  465 

India. 

DIED.  PAGE. 

Beatty,  Miss  Catharine  L Dec.  24,  1870  20 

Calderwood,  Rev.  William May  22,  1889  36 

Calderwood.  Mrs.  Elizabeth  G Aug.  15,  1859  37 

Caldwell,  Rev.  Joseph Jane  3,  1877  38 

Caldwell,  Mrs.  Joseph Nov.  8,  1839  38 

Campbell,  Rev.  James  R Sept.  18,  1862  46 

Campbell,  Mrs.  James  R Mar.  19,  1874  48 

Campbell,  Rev.  David  E June  13,  1857  48 

Campbell,  Mrs.  Mary  J June  13.1857  49 

Carleton,  Mrs.  M.  B Nov.  11,  1881  53 

Craig,  James Aug.  16,1845  73 

Craig,  Miss  Margaret  A Sept.  15,1890  74 

Das,  Rev.  Iswardi May  2,  1867  89 

Ewalt,  Miss  Margaret  E Mar.  2,  1892  98 

Ferris,  Rev.  George  H Mar.  7,  1894  99 

Forman,  Rev.  Charles  W Aug.  27, 1894  loi 

Forman,  Miss  Margaret  Newton May  12,  1878  103 

Freeman,  Rev.  John  E June  13,  1857  105 

Freeman,  Mrs.  Mary  Ann Aug.  8,1849  105 

Freeman,  Mrs.  Elizabeth June  13,  1857  107 

Fullerton,  Rev.  Robert  S   . Oct.  4,1865  109 

Goheen,  Mrs.  Joseph  M Jan.  17,1878  118 

Goloknath,  Rev Aug.  i,  1891  119 

Goloknath,  Mrs Mar.  1892  119 

Henry,  Rev.  Alexander Aug.  16,  1869  153 

Herron,  Mrs.  Mary  L Dec,  2,  1863  155 

Herron,  Mrs.  David  (2) Nov.  25,  1863  156 

Hull,  Rev.  James  J Jan.  13,1874  159 

Issachar,  Rev April    9,  1858  i6r 

Jamieson,  Mrs.  Rebecca Sept.  2,  1845  165 

Jamieson,  Mrs.  Ehza  M July  17,1856  169 

Janvier,  Rev.  Levi Mar.  24,  1864  169 

Janvier,  Mrs.  Levi May  5,  1854  172 

Janvier,  Mrs.  Mary  R Jan.  13,  1884  173 

Johnson,  Rev.  A.  O June  13,1857  176 

Johnson,  Mrs.  A.  O June  13,  1857  176 

Johnson,  Mrs.  William  F Aug.  10,  1888  177 

Kellos:g,  Mrs.  Samuel  H Mar.  4,  1876  177 

Loewenthal,  Rev.  Isidor April  27,  1864  192 


466 


SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS. 


Lowrie,  Mrs.  Louisa  A 
McMaster,  Rev.  Gilbert 
McMullin,  Rev.  Robert 
McMullin,  Mrs.  Robert 
Morrison,  Rev.  John  H 
Morrison,  Mrs.  Anna  M 
Morrison,  Mrs.  Isabella 
Morrison,  Mrs.  Anna  . 
Morrison,  Mrs.  John  H 
Morrison,  Mrs,  Susan  Dutcher 
Morrison,  Mrs.  W.J.  P 
Myers,  Rev.  Joseph  H 
Newton,  Rev.  John  .    . 
Newton,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Newton,  Mrs.  Eliza  .    . 
Newton,  Rev.  John,  Jr.,  M 
Nundy,  Rev.  Gopenath 
Orbison,  Rev.  James  H 
Orbison,  Mrs.  Agnes  C 
Owen,  Rev.  Joseph  .    . 

Owen,  Mrs 

Porter,  Rev.  Joseph  .  . 
Porter,  Mrs.  Harriet  J  . 
Reed,  Rev.  William  .  . 
Rudolph,  Mrs.  Adolph 
Rudolph,  Rev  Adolph . 
Rudolph,  Mrs.  A.  (2)  . 
Scott,  Rev.  James  L    . 
Scott,  Mrs.  Christiana  M 
Scott,  Mrs.  James  L.  (2) 
Seeley,  Mrs.  Emeline  M 
Seward,  Miss  Sara  C 
Thackwell,  Mrs.  Reese  A 
Walsh.  Miss  Emma  .    . 
Warren,  Rev.  Joseph  . 
Wilson,  Miss  Mary  N  . 
Wilson,  Rev.  James.    , 
Wilson,  Mrs.  James.    . 
Woodside,  Miss  Jennie 
Woodside,  Mrs.  John  S 


DIED. 

PAGE. 

Nov. 

21, 

1833 

205 

1888 

220 

June 

13. 

1857 

224 

June 

13. 

1857 

224 

Sept. 

16, 

1881 

232 

April 

27. 

1838 

233 

Feb. 

14. 

1843 

235 

Dec. 

29. 

i860 

235 

Sept. 

4. 

1888 

235 

Jan. 

1851 

236 

Aug. 

19. 

1888 

236 

Nov, 

19. 

1869 

237 

July 

2, 

1891 

247 

Sept. 

2, 

1857 

250 

Dec. 

4. 

1893 

251 

July 

29. 

1880 

251 

Mar. 

14. 

1861 

256 

April 

19. 

1869 

261 

May 

20, 

1855 

262 

Dec. 

4. 

1870 

263 

Dec. 

13 

1864 

264 

Nov. 

21, 

1853 

273 

Mar. 

10, 

1842 

276 

Aug. 

12, 

1834 

300 

Sept. 

8. 

1849 

306 

1888 

307 

April 

10, 

1884 

307 

Jan. 

2, 

1880 

308 

April 

16, 

1848 

309 

June 

2, 

1892 

313 

May 

9. 

1853 

321 

June 

12, 

1891 

32s 

Feb. 

16, 

1873 

349 

Aug. 

15. 

1869 

36 1 

Mar. 

7. 

1877 

361 

May 

24. 

1879 

382 

Feb. 

13. 

1884 

385 

Oct. 

29. 

1886 

386 

Feb. 

3. 

1887 

390 

1887 

390 

SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS.  467 

Japan  and  Korea. 

DIED.  PAGE. 

Ballah,  Mrs.  John  C Jan.    13,  1884  16 

Bryan,  Mrs.  Arthur  B May   lo,  1891  25 

Cornes,  Rev.  Edward Aug.     i,  1870  69 

Comes,  Mrs.  Edward Aug.     i,  1870  69 

Green,  Rev.  O.  M Nov.   17,  1882  135 

Hesser,  Miss  Mary  K Sept.     i,  1894  157 

McNair,  Mrs.  T.  M Feb.    11,  1887  221 

Heron,  John  W.,  M.D.  (Korea) Aug.     1,1890  154 

Mexico. 

Beall,  Mrs.  Jennie  A April  22,  1885  20 

Gomez,  Rev.  Necanor Nov.     2,  1884  131 

Irwin,  Rev.  R.  D Feb.     9,  1888  161 

Persia. 

Coan,  Rev.  George  W.,  D.D Dec.   21,  1879  400 

Cochran,  Rev.  Joseph  G Nov.     2,  1871  58 

Cochran,  Mrs.  D.  P Mar.    9,  1893  63 

Scott,  Rev.  David April    2,  1879  3^5 

Stocking,  Mrs.  William  R Sept,  22, 1872  348 

Wright,  Mrs.  John  N Feb.      5,  1879  394 

Wright,  Mrs.  John  N.  (Shushan) June     1,1890  395 

SiAM  AND  Laos. 

Briggs,  Mrs.  W.  A Mar.  22,  1891  25 

Bush,  Mrs.  Stephen July    23,  1861  28 

Campbell,  Miss  Mary  M Feb.      8,  188 r  50 

Cary,  Mrs.  A.  M Jan.     17,  1887  55 

MacLaren,  Rev.  Charles  B Mar.     4,  1883  219 

Odell,  Mr.  John  F Aug.  26,  1865  259 

Phraner,  Rev.  Stanley  K Jan.    15,  1895  270 

Phraner,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Pennell Feb.   12,  1891  272 

Small,  Miss  Jennie  M June     5,1891  341 

Wilson,  Mrs.  Maria July    10.  i860  378 

Wilson,  Mrs.  Jonathan  (2) Mar.     5,  1885  381 

Syria. 

Calhoun,  Rev.  Simeon  H Dec.   14,  1876  39 

Calhoun,  Rev.  Charles  W.,  M.D June  22,1883  44 


405  SUMMARY   BY   MISSIONS. 

DIED.  PAGB. 

Dale,  Rev.  Gefald  F Oct.      6,  1886  80 

Danforth,  Rev.  George  B July      7,  1875  88 

Danforth,  Mrs.  Emily Jan.      8,  1881  88 

Jessup,  Mrs.  H.  H April    4,  1882  174 

Thomson,  Rev.  William  M April    8,  1894  350 

Thomson,  Mrs.  William  M April  29,  1873  355 

Wood,  Rev.  Frank  A July    20,  1878  387 


Appendix. 

Rev.  George  W.  Coan,  D.D.,  (omitted  in  its  order)  .  Dec.  21,  1879  400 

Corresponding  Secretaries. 

Rev.  Elisha  P.  Swift,  D.D April    3,  1865  449 

Hon.  Walter  Lowrie Dec.   14,  1868  429 

Rev.  J.  Leighton  Wilson,  D.D July   13,1886  452 

Rev.  David  Irving,  D.D Oct.    12,  1885  425 

Rev.  Arthur  Mitchell,  D.D April  24,  1893  444 

Sepoy  Massacre  of  Missionaries  in  1857 403 

Resignation  of  Dr.  John  C.  Lowrie,  Secretary  ,    ,   ,  455 


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